Bumped - Bouldin

Mermaid Parade Queen's Bid To Save Coney Island Gains Support While Coney Sellout Recchia Under Investigation For Conflict Of Interest Loan

NEW YORK – It's been a long, media blitz weekend for Savitri D, Queen Of The Coney Island Mermaid Parade and Director of Reverend Billy and the Church Of Stop Shopping, as her hunger strike to save Coney Island enters its fourth day.

Her vigil without food, while living in the window of the Sideshows By The Seashore building and broadcasting live over webcam, aims to draw New Yorkers to a June 24th Community Meeting at Lincoln High School to halt a reduction of Coney Island amusement space from 60 acres to 9 acres. The hunger strike has won the hearts of thousands of New Yorkers, with appearances on television, print, radio and the blogosphere.

Speaking of the surprise proposal to replace large swaths of Coney Island with high-rise “hotels” and a shopping mall, Savitri remarked in a recent interview:  read more »

[UPDATE: Rep. Fossella's formidable fundraising factory showed prowess with more $300,000 raised in the just ended quarter -- with $250,000 cash on hand reports Liz Benjamin (Previous claims for Recchia were $220,000 and for Harrison $110,000.). Those keeping up with the race in the 13th Congressional District may also want to read the Sunday’s Strictly Political column by Tom Wrobleski in the Staten Island advance.]

I sometimes wonder if I have become a Yellow Dog Democrat – you know the sort who would vote for a yellow dog if it were the Democratic candidate. And then I remember Susan Molinari who represented Staten Island in the NYC Council and in Congress with wit, intelligence and care. I thought she was very good. I liked as well her Council successor and Finance Commissioner Alfred Cerullo. I have not admired the work of Congress Member Fossella. Let me give you an example of his work which in my view is bad not just because I disagree with his views (which I do) but because his views are couched in misstatements of fact and law.

Mr. Fossella’s essay appeared as a column in the NY Post by GOP Rep.Vito Fossella on a crucial issue pending before Congress; the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. (FISA) Congress Member Fossella also read this piece as the Republican radio address of the week and you can access from his website here .

[For a fair, left-partisan, discussion of the FISA issues, try Dahlia Lithwick's essay in Slate or try mcjoan's post at Kos . For the ACLU's view go here]. The Senate may vote on FISA Feb 4th or 5th. Consider calling your Senator .

As I read it, however, it misstates the facts and law about FISA and it repeats a part-fact part-fiction story which has been discredited. If this is the level of debate that Mr. Fossella is going to advance, the only question left is whether anyone will stay fooled by him  read more »

In the race to replace Vito Fossella in New York's 13th Congressional District the arguments among and between the partisans of the aspirants for the Democratic Party nomination in New York’s 13 Congressional District has focused on almost anything but the issues. Personally, I’ve been dissatisfied with what seemed to be shaping up as an intensely insider debate. (Who can raise enough money? Who is a pawn of Vito Lopez? Who supported Sen. Martin J. Golden?) Process questions are important, but they should not take the place of policy discussion, as I see it.

In order to understand the difference between them, I called up both candidates and asked them about key issues. I’ve run the statements below by each candidate again so as to ensure their accuracy and opportunity to fine tune the positions. Corrections are welcome. In my view, the statements below point to some policy differences between Mr. Harrison and Mr. Recchia.

I asked about the views of Mr. Harrison and Mr. Recchia on other issues too: health care, civil liberties, the economy, the sub-prime lending crisis. Suggestions are welcome The statements post jump.  read more »

Interested in assisting the defeat of Vito Fossella, NYC’s only GOP member of Congress, I’ve been watching developments in NY’s 13th CD (Staten Island & parts of Brooklyn) from a distance. Ten days ago, or so, I attended an event on Staten Island where I met Steve Harrison and many of his SI supporters. To keep up on events in this race try NY13 Blog Retaking NY-13 From Vito Fossella or you could try Richard Reichard's Rm 8 Blog (not kept quite so up to date).

I liked Harrison. He seemed articulate, focused; ready for prime time. The gossip of the gathering, however, was the rumor that some progressive Democrats – for example State Senator Diane Savino -- were supporting the possible candidacy of NYC Council Member Domenic Recchia.

I asked Savino, a progressive trade unionist and formerly Working Families Party activist why she would consider supporting Recchia in 2008 when she’d supported Harrison vigorously in 2006. The rumor specifically was that Senator Savino was introducing Council Member Recchia to her SI friends and supporters.

She said:

For me, the question is which of them can win. On their worst day, either Steve or Domenic would be better much than Vito Fossella. Electing either Harrison or Recchia would be a great victory. I campaigned hard for Steve in 2006 and, if he’s the candidate in 2008, will do so again.

Domenic’s Council district overlaps a lot of my Senate district so I know him well. My sense is that he would be a more formidable candidate than Steve.

The way I judge that is by the candidates’ fund raising abilities. In January, I met with Steve and more recently with Domenic. I told them the same thing. You need to show that you can raise enough money for the race. I believe that a truly formidable candidate will have raised in the neighborhood of $500,000 by the end of the Quarter [Jan. 15, I think]. I think Domenic can do that. The reason the race will be so expensive is the need to reach out to SI voters by mail and TV ads.  read more »

Below is a link to a story positioning Steve Harrison as the candidate of the people and Domenic Recchia as the Brooklyn machine's choice in City Hall News.

The article mentions the Daily Gotham, but the reporter didn't contact Bouldin and Mole as I suggested when he was writing the piece.

http://www.cityhallnews.com/news/128/ARTICLE/1316/2007-11-12.html