The candidate who ran a losing race against New York City’s lone Republican congressman in 2006 won a much-touted endorsement for the 2008 campaign this week — but the nod from former Assemblyman Frank Barbaro isn’t as vital as this piece of news: Harrison’s GOP rival is having early trouble raising money.
On Friday, Steve Harrison, a Bay Ridge attorney and former chairman of Community Board 10, was endorsed by Barbaro, a former Gravesend lawmaker who remains a heavy hitter in the cloistered world of Bay Ridge and Staten Island politics and who himself faced Fossella, also unsuccessfully, in 2004.
“I’m very pleased and very honored,” said Harrison.
For his part, Barbaro, who grabbed 41 percent of the vote against Fossella in 2004, called Harrison “refreshing and honest.” Harrison went down in 2006 with 43 percent of the vote.
Despite Harrison’s wide margin of defeat, some political pundits gave him high marks for doing as well as he did, given the huge disparity between his campaign coffers ($140,000) and Fossella’s ($1.5 million).
This time around, Fossella’s pockets are not yet full. As of Sept. 30, the five-term incumbent had just $50,000 on hand for his presumed re-election campaign, while Harrison had already raised $37,000. Fossella’s lack of funds is due, in part, to the $209,000 in debt he accrued in 2006.
Fossella’s campaign spokeswoman, Georgea Kaye, dismissed any concerns about Fossella’s finances.
“The committee raises between $1.2 and $1.8 million every election cycle and we are on track to reach our goals this cycle as well,” said Kaye.
Barbaro had only praise for Harrison this week, while disparaging his likely Democratic primary opponent..
Harrison is “for an immediate withdrawal of the troops from Iraq, he’s for national health insurance, he’s for protecting social security, and he’s for a women’s right to choose,” said Barbaro.
Barbaro criticized Harrison’s Democratic rival, Councilman Domenic Recchia (D-Coney Island), as “conservative” for his support of the death penalty, the invasion of Iraq, and the Patriot Act.
Barbaro may still be harboring a grudge over Recchia’s reported — though unconfirmed — leaking of information to Fossella during Barbaro’s 2004 bid.
In October, the Staten Island Advance reported that Recchia was being accused of leaking information to Fossella’s 2004 campaign through state Sen. Andrew Lanza (R–Queens).
“Domenic was always saying, ‘Vito’s gotta do this, Vito’s gotta do that,’” Lanza told the Advance. “He would tell me, ‘I like Vito. Vito’s a great guy.’”
Neither Lanza nor Recchia would comment for this story. But Barbaro said, “I happen to believe that people should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
For his part, Harrison professed confidence that he would beat the Coney Island Democratic to win the primary, and then the election in November 2008.
“We will definitely take the next election,” said Harrison.
