If the sparks flying at a recent club meeting are any indication, it’s likely to be a long, hot summer for Brooklyn and Staten Island Democrats.
Congressional hopefuls Stephen Harrison, a Brooklynite, and City Councilmember Michael McMahon, a Staten Islander, traded barbs during the June meeting of Brooklyn Democrats for Change, held at the Knights of Columbus, 8122 Fifth Avenue.
The exchange provided a glimpse of what an extended primary campaign could mean for the party, which is sensing a real chance of capturing the seat in the 13th Congressional District now held by Rep. Vito Fossella, who will step down at the end of this term.
“There will be a congressman in the room later tonight,” remarked Kevin Carroll, club president.
The contretemps focused on the positions of McMahon and Harrison on the Iraq war, as well as whether Harrison had shifted to become pro- choice.
The war, said McMahon, was, “The greatest foreign policy mistake our government has ever made. We were lied to by the Bush administration. This is something we need to rectify immediately. I will do everything I can to end the war as quickly as possible.”
He had, he acknowledged, voted against a City Council resolution that opposed commencing the war till the U.N. team completed its weapons inspections in Iraq, in part because he believed in representations made by then Secretary of State Colin Powell. But, McMahon added, “I have been opposed to the war since then.”
McMahon also said, if he were elected to Congress, “I would not support a pre-emptive war” against Iran. “Obviously, pre-emptive wars don’t work. They are not the American way.
“Candidates learn to do a better job,” McMahon added, noting, “I am not the only politician in the room who changed a position recently, but Steve changed it for the better, so I’m not going to pick on him.”
“I think judgment counts here,” rejoined Harrison, who has opposed the war from its inception. “It would have been very easy, if I’d been on the council, to raise my hand and say no.
“I can tell you I’m a progressive Democrat and I can tell you he’s a conservative Democrat, because he’s seeking the Conservative Party line,” Harrison went on. “He said, you need a centrist in this race. Statistics show the opposite – the people who have always done best are progressives because we offer a distinction. Councilman McMahon doesn’t offer a distinction. People are going to decide whether to vote for Republican or Republican light.”
In response, contended McMahon, addressing Harrison, ”You talked about how important it is to have a Democrat who could distinguish him or herself from the Republicans. I was at a meeting where you publicly changed your position on a woman’s right to choose. Do you think that change in position damages your ability to run this race? Do you think it’s okay for a politician to make a change that dramatic? Do you think you will be able to distinguish yourself from the Republican on that issue?”
“I didn’t change my position on abortion,” Harrison rejoined. “I was in the middle before. Now, it is slightly different. I believe a woman has an absolute right to choose and what I believe would be my personal position would not hold true in a policy determination. The only two ways to make it fair is that everybody could have an abortion or nobody could have an abortion, and if nobody has an abortion, women will die.”
Coming from across the Verrazano Bridge, McMahon was a relatively unknown entity to most of those who attended the meeting. For this reason, he gave them a quick sketch of his bona fides – his rise from civic association president on Staten Island to city councilmember.
“I think there’s general consensus,” McMahon told his listeners, “that Mike McMahon works very hard for the people in his district.” To back that up, he cited his achievements: “Two new schools, two new police precincts, two new libraries, over 135 acres of open space being protected as parkland.”
He had also, he said, worked for rezoning that would curb over-development, “Controlling growth to make it smart growth.”
While the Dems are duking it out, the Republicans appear to have settled down for a taste of unanimity, with the Brooklyn GOP deciding to go with Frank Powers, a retired businessman and member of the MTA board who was chosen by the Staten Island Republican Party as its standard-bearer.
Said Craig Eaton, the chair of the Brooklyn Republican Party, after meeting with both Powers and former Assemblymember Robert Straniere, “The GOP in Kings County made the determination that Brooklyn and Staten Island must be united behind one candidate in order to be successful in November. For that reason, we threw our support behind Frank Powers.
“He’s a retired businessman, from humble means. He expressed to me that he will put financial resources, time, energy and full effort into the campaign and will work hard to ensure victory,” Eaton added.
Powers comes with both pluses and minuses. On the positive side, he can self-finance a costly campaign; on the negative, his ties to the MTA open him up to a line of campaigning which likely benefits the Democrats.
“We’ll certainly be talking about double books, cooked books, the fact that, as a member of the MTA board, he gets to travel the Verrazano Bridge for free and we pay $10,” noted Carroll during the Dems’ meeting.
