Even though he hasn’t officially thrown his hat into the ring, City Councilman Domenic Recchia has out-raised incumbent Congressman Vito Fossella in the race for Bay Ridge’s 13th Congressional District, according to recent Federal Election Commission filings.
According to paperwork published on Tuesday, Recchia raised $129,690 during the first three months of 2008 and has $325,175 on hand.
Fossella, who has been representing the 13th Congressional District since 1997, has raised $148,641 in the same period, giving him $248,496 for his re-election bid, campaign finance figures show.
When contacted, Recchia said he wasn’t surprised to learn that he out-raised Fossella by near $76,000.
“We had a great quarter,” he said. “But this shows that people are listening to our message, they like what I’m saying, believe that I can make a difference and want to jump on our train.”
But now that he has raised more than Fossella, does he plan to officially announce his campaign?
“We’re putting together our team and moving our agenda forward,” he said.
Georgea Kaye, political director for Fossella’s campaign, said that the FEC filings don’t reflect the bigger picture, and that more money would be coming in.
“We are moving forward with our fund raising plan and have some of our biggest events of the cycle scheduled for the next several weeks,” she said. “We have our campaign operation fully in place and are already working hard to make sure Vito is re-elected.”
“We’re confident that we will have the resources we need to run an aggressive campaign,” Kaye said.
But a political insider close to the race was quick to point out that “Fossella’s campaign is already up and running. Recchia hasn’t even begun.”
Federal Election Commission figures show that Bay Ridge Attorney Steve Harrison, who lost a bid to unseat Fossella in 2006 and will ultimately face Recchia in a primary this September, raised $43,878 in the last quarter, leaving him with a total of $91,131.
Previous campaign filings show that the lion’s share of Recchia’s donations came from Brooklyn, especially from his City Council district covering Coney Island and Bensonhurst. Donors include Community Board 13 District Manager Charles Reichenthal and Brighton Neighborhood Association Executive Director Pat Singer, as well as the Brooklyn Chinese American Association and the Russian American Circus.
Recchia’s campaign also received money from several federal political action committees