NY13 Blog; Retaking NY-13 from Rep. Vito Fossella

Fossella admits Ward embezzlement to FEC

2009-04-19T22:39:00.002-05:00

I stopped following Vito's FEC reports. Maybe I shouldn't have so quickly written off Fossella's ability to provide new stories.

Liz reports that in Fossella's required FEC filing replying to an inquiry why his financial numbers were not matching up he claims to now be the victim of embezzlement;

The accuracy of this report is in question due to alleged embezzlement of funds. The Committee is in the process
of reconciling its records and will file an amended report as soon as possible.

Nothing new here, just more bad PR for Vito.

Fossella suddenly pleads guilty

2009-04-13T21:54:00.002-05:00

via the Brooklyn Paper;

Disgraced former Rep. Vito Fossella has abandoned his appeal of last year’s drunk-driving conviction in a Virginia court and will likely begin a five-day sentence behind bars this weekend.

After fighting to for months to stay out of jail after last year’s drunk-driving arrest and conviction in suburban Virginia, the former Bay Ridge Republican withdrew his appeal this morning and entered a guilty plea.

Fossella will report to jail Friday evening and serve four days with the night he served when arrested counting towards his fifth day.

Don't call it a comeback

2009-04-08T19:27:00.004-05:00

In the Political Animal column at Washington Monthly today's CHUTZPAH WATCH covers Fossella's desire to be the joke that never ends;

Fossella sure has been looking the part of interested potential political candidate. In the past week or so, he has attended an area Lincoln Day Dinner, read to school children in his district -- complete with a photo-op -- and participated in the opening of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's campaign office.

I almost hope he runs for something and brings his "family values" platform with him. And don't wander off just yet we have Fossella's new DUI trail slated for April 13-14.

This isn't complicated: conservative Republican + lurid extra-marital affair + secret love child + DUI + jail time + frequent lies = limited electoral viability. A good story for a melodrama? Sure. A good story for a disgraced congressman thinking about a comeback? Not so much.

Vote Tuesday

2009-02-23T23:19:00.000-05:00

North Shore City Council Seat 49. Polls are open 6am - 9pm.

The bench: City Council District 49 race, WFP

2009-02-10T00:37:00.002-05:00

I have always liked the Working Families Party so this combination may be a big deal;

Democrat Debi Rose has picked up the endorsements of the Working Families Party; Local 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, and the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council (HTC) in her campaign for the vacant North Shore City Council seat.

snip

1199 SEIU plans to direct mail, phone-bank and go door-to-door to its thousands of members and retirees in both districts on behalf of our endorsed candidates.

The bench: City Council District 49 race

2009-02-10T00:33:00.002-05:00

As of today here is who in on the ballot
Tony Baker
Ken Mitchell
Donald Pagano
Debi Rose
Paul Saryian
John Tabacco

And who isn't
Tony Cosentino
Tom Curitore
Rajiv Gowda

The bench: City Council District 49 race

2009-02-04T23:15:00.002-05:00

Today's post is all about petition challenges. Ballot signatures were submitted and challenges ensued. Here is where we are at;

Tony Cosentino, the only Republican, is off the ballot
Rajiv Gowda was removed from the ballot by the Board of Elections
Tom Curitore's petition was challenged by Ken Mitchell
John Tabacco's petition was challenged by Ken Mitchell

Rev. Dr. Tony Baker, Debi Rose, Paul Saryian and Ken Mitchell seem to have no challenges and will likely be on the ballot. Since the only Republican failed to qualify for the ballot this seat will be won be by a Democrat or Independence party member.

Fossella's new trial, take II

2009-02-02T19:51:00.003-05:00

After being found guilty and sentenced to five days in jail Fossella decided to try again in hopes of a more lenient verdict based on his blame everyone but himself strategy;

An Alexandria, Va. court has set aside two days for former Rep. Vito Fossella's trial on charges that he drove while under the influence on May 1 last year.

Fossella, who was sentenced in December by an Alexandria District Court judge for having driven with a blood-alcohol-content level of .17, will appear before an Alexandria Circuit Court jury April 13 and 14.

Seriously just go to jail. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

The bench: City Council District 49 race

2009-01-17T11:51:00.003-05:00

With Rep. McMahon vacating his city council seat for an office in Congress its now time to take another look at our Democratic bench in the district. The special election to fill this seat will take place February 24, 2009. Here is a list of contenders so far;

in alphabetical order with party affiliation where known;

Tony Baker (Democrat)
Tom Curitore
Rajiv Gowda
Ken Mitchell (Democrat)
Donald Pagano caution music!
Debi Rose (Democrat)
Paul Saryian (Independence Party)

This race is non partisan so party affiliation will not be presented on the ballot. That said anyone know what Curitore and Pagano are registered as?

Who are you supporting and why?

McMahon co-sponsors SCHIP bill

2009-01-14T23:29:00.002-05:00

via press release;

Rep. Michael E. McMahon joined with over sixty-five percent of the House in voting today to pass the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) bill. S-CHIP is critical legislation for New York, which is one of the five states with the largest number of uninsured children. The bill will provided eleven million eligible children with health insurance, including many in the Congressman’s district of Staten Island and Brooklyn, as well as New York City as a whole.

S-CHIP, created in 1997, originally provided health insurance to seven million children in families that did not qualify for Medicaid, but could not afford private health insurance. The bipartisan legislation, which the House voted to reauthorize, renews and improves the original bill by providing health care to an additional four million eligible children. The S-CHIP bill was approved today by a vote of 289 to 139.

Speaking on the floor this morning, Rep. McMahon, a cosponsor of the bill, stated: “Today millions of children from modest income families are not regularly seeing a doctor because they are not enrolled in a children’s health insurance program, even though they are eligible. Today this Congress has an opportunity to change that by passing legislation that will expand the program to four million additional kids.” Noting the need for this legislation as the rate of unemployment rises in the country, Rep. McMahon continued that the bill is “especially important for my home state of New York, which has 402,000 uninsured kids… nearly ten percent of the national total.”

You may recall Fossella previously had voted against SCHIP. Isn't it nice to Rep. McMahon in Washington.

Recent legislative votes; McMahon Edition

2009-01-14T23:15:00.002-05:00

Ah how nice. Since I was always having to highlight how ridiculous Fossella was and everything he voted against here is what it is like to have Rep. McMahon in Washington;

Paycheck Fairness Act HR 12
Vote Passed (256-163, 14 Not Voting)

On Friday, the House passed this bill to allow gender-based pay discrimination victims to sue for more money and require employers to meet a higher standard to justify pay disparities.

Rep. Mike McMahon voted YES
Rep. McMahon was a co-sponsor of this bill

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 HR 11
Vote Passed (247-171, 15 Not Voting)

The House passed this employee pay discrimination measure that would allow courts to consider each new paycheck as a new instance of discrimination.

Rep. Mike McMahon voted YES
Rep. McMahon was a co-sponsor of this bill

NRCC already targeting McMahon

2009-01-12T22:14:00.003-05:00

The NRCC is not wasting much time realizing they screwed up in 2008 by losing this seat. via Congress Matters we see McMahon is on a lengthy list of targeted seats. Brownsox over at dailykos calls it the "shotgun" approach as they have put 51 Democrats on that list. After being trounced for two elections now you can't say they are setting their sights too low with this announcement. Joining McMahon on this list from New York are Reps. Arcuri, Gillibrand, Massa, and Maffei. Also on that list are members the NRCC has unsuccessfully been trying to pick off for years so take the whole thing with a grain of salt. It might be a shot over the bow of Democrats but they are using nerf toys.

Representative McMahon

2009-01-07T23:37:00.003-05:00

McMahon lands Transportation Committee seat

2009-01-07T21:55:00.002-05:00

via McMahon press release (PDF);

"I am proud that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House Democratic Leadership chose me to serve on this powerful and important Committee. Staten Island and Brooklyn residents have some of the longest commutes in the United States, and our infrastructure has failed to keep up with growing populations in both boroughs. As a Member of this Committee, I will put New York City first to ensure that we have the Federal resources needed to improve our highways, expand public transportation, revitalize our waterways and create better transportation to lessen our dependence on cars and overcrowded highways. Better transportation in our area means a better quality of life for Staten Islanders and residents of Brooklyn," said Congressman McMahon.

McMahon had been trying to get on this committee so this should be seen as good news for him. This position will help him with the district's transportation issues likely including ferry service, 86th subway station and other MTA needs and possibly a north shore rail line.

Fossella's last day

2009-01-02T13:32:00.001-05:00

Today is the official last day of Vito's term in Congress;

GOP Rep. Vito Fossella's term doesn't officially end until Friday, but his offices in Washington, D.C., and on Staten Island have been methodically stripped -- down to the phones and furniture -- over the last month, in accordance with House guidelines.

Happy Friday!

Fossella runs out the clock on House Ethics Committee

2008-12-20T10:53:00.002-05:00

In a statement by the House Ethics Committee investigating Fossella's arrest, the committee announced they will not be making any findings or recommendations due to their term expiring before Fossella's appeal is heard;

On May 21, 2008, an investigative subcommittee was established to conduct an inquiry regarding Representative Vito Fossella with respect to his arrest on or about May 1, 2008 in Alexandria, Virginia for the misdemeanor criminal charge of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

The subcommittee concluded its work without a recommendation of further action against Representative Fossella. The investigative subcommittee had deferred action in this matter because of the pendency of the criminal proceedings involving Representative Fossella. Representative Fossella did not seek re-election, and the Committee will lose jurisdiction over him when his term expires on Jan. 3, 2009.

An investigation and potential removal from Congress by his colleagues would have been disastrous for any future life in politics or lobbying that likely is in Fossella's future. My guess is the appeal of his sentence has more to do with running out the clock on the House Ethics investigation than it has to do with avoiding jail time.

One last look at fund raising numbers

2008-12-19T00:05:00.002-05:00

I enjoy the thought of no more FEC reports for a while. So here is hopefully the last recap of this race.

Mike McMahon is sitting on $241,273 with no debt.

Vito Fossella still has $220,326, though he is promising to return almost all of it;

This is in response to the Federal Election Commission's Request for Additional Information (RFAI) regarding the Committee's July Quarterly Report. Based on the RFAI and subsequent conversations with RAD Senior Campaign Finance Analyst Christian Hilland, the Committee to Re-Elect Vito Fossella will refund primary contributions made after May 20, 2008, except to the extent necessary to cover any valid outstanding primary debts, and will refund all general election contributions made to the Committee.

Fossella's treasurer in his report to the FEC claims all refunds would be paid out by Dec 12. What is curious about this is that he did not transfer any large (or any?) amounts at all to the NRCC or republican candidates. Back in September I asked what was he going to do with the money. Apparently the answer is to send a costly message to his party for not being more supportive.

And then there is Domenic Recchia. Recchia continues to sit on about $161,986, all money he can only spend on a federal race and not city council or borough president. Back in July I started asking some questions about what he was planning on doing with that money and so far there have been no answers. With term limits Recchia is obviously looking for his next gig so keeping a congressional run open in the future isn't a terrible idea, especially with Hillary's open Senate seat. Should Gov. Paterson surprise many and say appoint Rep. Nadler, then Recchia's warchest suddenly makes sense. Aside from that I have no clue what Recchia is doing, and I don't think he does either.

All figures are updated in the right hand column.

Random items from Fossella's trial

2008-12-14T22:46:00.003-05:00

There were a few items that slipped past me that have come out with updates from Fossella's trial.

In his October trial Fossella claimed that his hand sanitizer was the cause of his .17 blood alcohol level;

"Later, he went back to his Capitol Hill office and cleaned his hands with Purell, a hand sanitizer that is more than 60 percent ethyl alcohol.

The alcohol in the hand sanitizer led to his elevated blood-alcohol reading, his attorneys said."

Five days is the lightest sentence he could receive;

The maximum penalty on the misdemeanor charge is one year in jail.

Umm;

...police there tried to give him another blood-alcohol test nearly three hours later. Initially, Fossella "claimed he was not able to perform the test and threatened to defecate on the floor of the police station if he was not allowed to use the restroom,"

Fossella appeals

2008-12-08T19:11:00.002-05:00

After being found guilty on DWI charges and sentenced to five days in jail, current Congressman Vito Fossella has appealed his sentencing. His appeal means he will get a new trial some time next year that will be heard by a jury. More importantly though it means that a sitting member of Congress who has been arrested, found guilty and sentenced to a prison term will now get to serve out the remainder of his time in Congress while waiting for a new trial. Fossella will likely not be forced out of Congress, will continue to collect his pay check from tax payers and enjoy the perks given to those who are suppose to be in DC representing Americans as opposed to having secret lives and breaking the law. Congress likely won't even hold an ethics investigation that is prompted by any member who is arrested because of the ongoing court case. Congratulations Congressman Fossella on stooping to a new low

Fossella is prison bound

2008-12-08T15:58:00.001-05:00

Vito Fossella is headed from the halls of Congress to a nice little one room housing behind bars ;

Chief Judge Becky J. Moore also fined the disgraced congressman $300, ordered him to complete an alcohol safety program and suspended his driver's license in the state of Virginia for one year.

"Congressman Fossella, I've been sworn to follow the law," Judge Moore said while imposing sentence in Alexandria General District Court.

Fossella sentencing at 1pm

2008-12-08T12:04:00.001-05:00

This afternoon Vito will receive his DWI sentence. He faces up to five days in jail. Stay tuned for more updates.

McMahon Announces New Chief of Staff

2008-11-25T00:21:00.001-05:00

via McMahon press release;

Former Chief of Staff to Rep. Joseph Crowley Now Serving Staten Island and Brooklyn

November 20, 2008 – After spending a demanding few days in Washington, DC, participating in New Member Orientation and preparing to serve as Staten Island and Brooklyn's newest Congressman, Congressman-elect Mike McMahon (NY-13) has appointed a new chief of staff: Mr. Christopher McCannell.

McCannell, a Fordham graduate originally from Maine, comes to McMahon's office from Washington, DC after having spent eight years as Chief of Staff to Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY), and most recently as a Director in the bi-partisan government relations firm of Quinn Gillespie where he focused on financial services. McCannell served as the lead staff member in Congressman Crowley's office interacting with House Democratic leadership through his role as floor assistant to Crowley, the Chief Deputy Whip, Member of the powerful committee on Ways and Means and New York's highest ranking member of House Democratic leadership.

" I know the needs of my district very well, but I will need some help learning the ropes in DC," explained Congressman-elect McMahon, "Chris is experienced and will be my right hand man when it comes to having my district's needs met in DC."

Prior to working with Congressman Crowley, McCannell served as press secretary for Congressman Steny H. Hoyer, and on the staffs of Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski and Senators Frank R. Lautenberg and George J. Mitchell. Mr. McCannell brings thirteen years of experience in Congressional communication, policy and politics.

" I am proud to return to Capitol Hill to serve as Chief of Staff to Congressman-elect Mike McMahon. From going to school in New York and working eight years with Rep. Crowley, I know the city well and it is great to return to serve New York City's newest Member and a critical district to House Democratic leadership. Congressman-elect McMahon is coming to Washington at a historic time, and I look forward to working with him to deliver results for Staten Island and Brooklyn and make him the most effective Congressman possible," said Mr. McCannell.

Vito Fossella a "national joke"

2008-11-20T20:31:00.001-05:00

va Rolling Stone;

They lost in every way imaginable, on every political front. The symbol of their anti-gay crusade, Colorado congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, was beheaded. The party that had made so much hay running against Mexicans saw noted anti-immigration crusader Bill Sali of Idaho ousted along with several other members of the Immigration Reform Caucus. The GOP's grasp on the so-called "moral values" issue likewise went up in roaring flames, with Rep. Vito Fossella of Staten Island the poster child — his morals were once so perfect that he refused to be seen with his gay sister, and now he's a national joke, bounced after being caught drunk driving and having unprotected, babymaking sex with a married Air Force officer.

Mission Accomplished, What Now?

2008-11-19T20:35:00.000-05:00

I am not a long term political activist. Politics has always intrigued me, but I had not been actively involved until the 2004 presidential election. After the presidential primary had ended there was little need to volunteer for a presidential race in New York, a solidly Democratic state. Looking at prospective areas to help in the city there was only one competitive Congressional race, Fossella vs. Barbaro. I volunteered very late in the race for Frank Barbaro. This was my first introduction to politics in this district. My confession, I have actually never lived in the district. I would find myself having to explain that to sources and friends I have met along the way while covering this Congressional seat and it was always interesting to see the reactions from those I confided in.

A year after the 2004 race Frank Barbaro decided not to take on Vito Fossella a second time. He held a press conference at the ferry terminal that I was unable to attend and so I tried in vain to find coverage of his announcement. There was always a massive void in coverage of Rep. Fossella and his Congressional races. More often than not the local papers and blogs associated with them would spend more time covering members of Congress from outside the city. I questioned one of them about this and they flat out told me no one was interested in this race and it was not news worthy. It was hard for me to accept that a local race for Congress or coverage of ethical lapses of one of our own representatives was not news worthy. May 2008 happened and all of a sudden papers are devoting multiple articles a week to very un-news worthy aspects of the race showing just how rusty they were in their political coverage.

As a side note to the above, another local blogger approached me over the summer to get my feedback on the whole Vito fiasco and quipped that they had information, I forget if they said they covered it, of Fossella's affairs. It is somewhat fitting and humorous that the local media who never investigated much of anything related to Fossella only became relevant after investigative reporting was a moot point.

Going back, after Barbaro's pass at a second run there was an online movement for bloggers starting up asking them to adopt a Congressional district and learn it inside and out. The thought was that we needed people on the ground to know the issues and numbers and cover those regularly instead of relying on the local print media to do so. The idea that was a tangent of that was that we would be prepared should something unexpected happen. Not many thought Fossella's seat was going to ever be a toss-up status, but potentially a strong challenger and shifting dynamic could come along at the right time to make this race competitive.

For three years now this blog had one goal, seeing that Fossella lost his seat and the district receive new representation. I have read through more FEC filings, House bills and resolutions and election law than I care to let myself acknowledge. While this has been modestly small in terms of traffic I do take pride in receiving emails from various candidate's campaigns for this office asking for background on Fossella and opinions on strategy. The down side to this faint notoriety though for sure was the week of Fossella's arrest. I rarely slept for more than a few hours in the early morning. The pace was frantic, something that would have been difficult to keep up with had this been my full time job. The light at the end of that tunnel though is the ability to ponder my own retirement.

After Fossella's arrest and eventual announcement that he would not seek re-election several people asked me what that would mean for my long quest to see him leave Congress. I still wonder that myself. For now, as you have seen, I am taking some much needed rest from the daily Google Alerts, document sifting and posting here. There will be an election to replace Congressman-elect McMahon in the City Council which may be of some interest to me. I do not have a favorite candidate there. There is the Staten Island Borough Presidency race next year as well. I think I may turn this over to campaigns for those races and let some insiders and locals have a go at covering these races. For the immediate future there is still Fossella's sentencing, a possible House ethics investigation and his last day in Congress to cover.

One thing is for sure though, I will need to eventually rename this blog, NY13 Blog; Retaking NY-13 from Rep. Vito Fossella happily can be retired soon.

2004 vs. 2008

2008-11-06T22:41:00.002-05:00

2008
dem: 105,128 [McMahon] includes WFP numbers
rep: 57,530 [Straniere]
indy: 4,762 [Morano]
con: 5,525 [Cochrane]
wfp: unknown [McMahon]

2004
dem: 72,180 [Barbaro]
rep: 102,713 [Fossella]
indy: 2,663 [Barbaro]
con: 10,221 [Fossella]
wfp: 3,657 [Barbaro]

Without WFP numbers the biggest story here is the poor showing of the Conservative Party this cycle. The Conservative Party went from accounting for 5.3% of the vote total in 04 to 3.2% in 08. Meanwhile the Independence line nearly doubled its voters, the Conservative Party line lost half of theirs. I still have no idea what they were thinking choosing someone other than Straniere or Morano, or even McMahon if you want to go that far. They have hurt their party publicity by not having someone campaigning on their line. If they invested any money, which is unknown, it was a complete waste. This should come as no surprise though as they have been in decline for a while.