Domenic Recchia

Yesterday, with a report in the New York Post, the idea that Michael Bloomberg will try to seek a third term as mayor returned with force.

Much like the rumors that he would run for president, or was being considered as a running mate for either of the two presidential candidates, the whisper hasn't died despite pro forma denials by aides and vocal support for term limits by Bloomberg.

Is any of it real?

A spokesman for City Councilman Domenic Recchia, who strongly supports changing term limits and has been rumored to have encouraged the mayor to run again, said that there has been no indication of legislative action and denied that Recchia was encouraging the mayor.  read more »

Even in these days of increased transparency when it comes to the City Council's appropriation of member items, the process remains, unavoidably, one that rewards people who know people.

For example, the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a non-profit group whose executive director, William Rapfogel, is married to the Assembly Speaker's chief of staff, Judy Rapfogel, got $556,250 in member items this year.

The Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Center, a group founded and closely associated with Vito Lopez, an Assemblyman and Brooklyn Democratic County Leader, got $658,089 in member items.

 

In the comments section of my original post on these member items, Mendy points out that Leib Glantz, a politically active Satmar rabbi, is a big winner because his group, UJCare, got a $200,000 member item to fund "a variety of services.  read more »

Leading up to tonight’s scoping meeting of the Coney Island revamp, various advocacy groups and others are staking out positions on the city’s plan, a few of which have ended up in our inbox. The comments are on the latest iteration of the plan, which was altered after it met opposition from Councilman Domenic Recchia, who sided with landowners including major property owner Joseph Sitt.

The hearing, which starts at six in Coney Island, has attracted a large bit of attention given that it's ostensibly intended for comments on what should or should not be included in a draft environmental impact statement.  read more »

Democratic City Councilman Domenic Recchia of Brooklyn just announced he is dropping out of the race for Vito Fossella's congressional seat.

Staten Island Democrats recently endorsed another candidate, City Councilman Mike McMahon. Although the district lies partly in Brooklyn, Staten Island residents are a majority.

In the release, Recchia says he thinks Democrats should be "united as a party" to win the seat, currently held by a Republican.  read more »

City Councilman Mike McMahon, who is running for the congressional seat Vito Fossella is vacating, was endorsed last night by the Staten Island Democratic Party.  read more »

"How about making some noise for opening the beach?" Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said from the podium, as brightly dressed protesters standing behind a police line chanted, "Thor no more! Thor no more!"

So began another politically charged season at Coney Island under appropriately gloomy skies on Thursday morning.  read more »

Here's what I've heard so far about who might run for Vito Fossella's seat now that the congressman has said he is staying in office but not seeking re-election.

A spokesman for Democratic City Councilman Domenic Recchia of Brooklyn, the best-funded challenger, said he’s still in the race, despite some rumblings that he might drop out. Democratic attorney Steve Harrison is also still running.

On the Republican side, the names of State Senator Andrew Lanza and District Attorney Dan Donovan have been floated. But a bid by either would come at a cost to the party. A Lanza run could jeopardize one of the State Senate seats that give Republicans a majority. And Donovan would have to give up his safe seat as district attorney, in which case David Paterson would almost certainly appoint a Democrat to that borough-wide position.  read more »

Here's something counterintuitive. Amid all the jockeying for Vito Fossella's seat, City Hall News reports that the best-funded candidate in the race, City Councilman Domenic Recchia of Brooklyn, who was challenging Fossella long before the congressman was arrested, called "at least one elected official" and discussed dropping out.

From CHN:  read more »

The jockeying to run for Republican Vito Fossella’s suddenly winnable congressional seat has opened a bit of a rift between Brooklyn and Staten Island Democrats.

The seat is mostly in Staten Island, but for years, Democratic elected officials there have taken a pass at challenging Fossella since that would have meant giving up their own safe re-elections in order to run (and probably lose). The result was a string of unmemorable candidates who got slaughtered by Fossella and his Republican predecessor, Susan Molinari.

The Brooklyn side, at least, has produced some feisty challengers, namely Frank Barbaro and Steve Harrison. This year, in addition to Harrison, the Democratic field will include Councilman Domenic Recchia, who has even more campaign money at his disposal than Fossella. The Brooklyn Dems, in other words, would seem to have a pretty good chance of producing the nominee this year.

But now it's gotten more complicated. There’s blood in the water, thanks to Fossella’s love child scandal (not to mention a pretty good Democratic trend nationwide), and Staten Island Democrats are looking for someone to get in on the action. This is particularly significant because if Fossella resigns, designating a Democratic challenger for the resulting special election will fall to the folks on Staten Island.

Will Brooklyn get edged out?

Here's how Council member Vinny Gentile made their case: “It seems to me that to suggest that it’s a Staten Island seat, if you look at the last three Brooklynites who were the nominees, they did as well if not better than the State Islanders who were nominees."  read more »

The Staten Island chapter of the Independence Party, which supported recently arrested Republican Congressman Vito Fossella in 2006, is interviewing “all prospective candidates” who want to seek their endorsement this year.

Interviews will take place on May 25, according to Frank Morano, an executive committee member of the New York State Independence Party.

Morano said Fossella “would have a shot at the nomination,” but also said that it would not be “a lock."  read more »

Last week I reported that an endorsement vote at a Democratic Club in Bay Ridge was split evenly between Vito Fossella's two official Democratic challengers, Domenic Recchia and Steve Harrison.  read more »

At first glance, the potential (likely?) demise of Vito Fossella's political career makes for a timely boost for Democrats, who are now in prime position to claim the 13th District congressional seat he has held since 1997.

But it may be more trouble than it's worth.

The district certainly is winnable for Democrats, especially if Fossella opts to seek re-election despite the scandals exploding around him. But even if he doesn't – and there is word this afternoon that his resignation is now imminent – either of the Democrats now running, Steve Harrison and Domenic Recchia, would probably have a better-than-even chance against the Republican-to-be-named-later in the fall.

The 13th District is easily the most conservative in New York City and traditionally sends a Republican to Congress, but Democrats actually enjoy a slight partisan advantage. Largely because of 9/11, George W. Bush carried it by 10 points in 2004, but a more accurate expression of the district's leanings can be found in the 2000 election, when Al Gore won it by eight points over Bush. Moreover, the political climate strongly favors Democrats in 2008 (just look at the party's string of special election wins in GOP bastions this year), which figures to boost the Democratic nominee in the 13th by a few potentially pivotal points.  read more »

The Brooklyn Democrats for Change, a reform club in Bay Ridge, held their endorsement meeting last night to decide which Democrat to endorse against Republican Vito Fossella.

The club’s decision was an even split.

According to a political operative who attended the meeting but is not actively working for either campaign, there were 25 votes for each of the two declared Democratic candidates, attorney Steve Harrison and City Councilman Domenic Recchia.  read more »

One of Vito Fossella’s Democratic challengers, Steve Harrison, just released a public statement saying that if Fossella runs for reelection, “The people will decide in November if his recent behavior and revelations should disqualify him from continuing in office.”

It's a slightly different approach than Harrison took yesterday, when he told me Fossella's D.U.I. arrest spoke to the congressman's "character" and decision-making ability.

Here’s the statement:  read more »

Vito Fossella’s spokespeople won’t say whether he’ll run for reelection, according to an item in Crain’s today.

“Politics is not what he’s focused on now,” Susan Del Percio--Fossella’s political consultant--is quoted as saying. “He’s focused on doing his job.”  read more »

Unlike Councilman Domenic Recchia, Democrat Stephen Harrison isn't hesitating to talk about the arrest of Republican Congressman Vito Fossella..

“I would like to have this race decided by the issues, like the war, health care, the economy, jobs, things of that nature--all of which are important.  read more »

Congressman Vito Fossella’s recent arrest for driving drunk has Democrats thinking they might get a better chance at taking the only congressional seat in the city held by a Republican. (The district includes Staten Island and part of Brooklyn).  read more »

Councilman Domenic Recchia has kept a low profile since the congressman he is trying to unseat, Vito Fossella, got arrested for driving drunk.

But when political consultant Jefrey Pollock prefaced remarks about Fossella on NY1 last night by saying he’s working for Recchia’s campaign, that was news.  read more »

In his first appearance since being arrested in Virginia for drunk driving, Republican Congressman Vito Fossella said he’s not resigning and he hopes the residents of his Staten Island-Brooklyn district forgive him for what he said was a one-time mistake.

“It was a big mistake and I made it and I’m here to apologize to the people I represent,” he said, speaking at the Hilton hotel on Staten Island. “I was brought up man enough to know it’s time to admit mistakes and apologize.”

Fossella spoke for about six minutes, and walked away when I tried asking if he would enter rehab. An aide said later there was no need for it.  read more »

The Bloomberg administration is getting squeezed from all sides with its Coney Island plan, as its most recent proposal is taking fire from both advocates of the historic amusement hub and the area’s major landholder, Joseph Sitt.

Key advocates who once rallied behind the Bloomberg administration are now coming out strongly against the city’s proposal, expressing dismay that it would further shrink down the amusement district, putting retail and some hotels where city-owned land for amusements was once planned.

“The new plan sucks,” said Dick Zigun, the director of the nonprofit Coney Island USA who is often called the unofficial mayor of Coney Island. “They initially came together and came up with a plan that everybody got on board for … This is so watered down it is unacceptable.”  read more »

The debate over the future of Coney Island has become enmeshed in politics; standing at center stage is Councilman Domenic Recchia.

“I tell you one thing, we’re going to get a new boardwalk,” the Brooklyn Democrat said, stomping his foot last week on the decaying wooden planks of Coney Island’s signature walkway.  read more »

 

Here's Steve Harrison, the less-funded of the two Democrats looking to unseat Representative Vito Fossella, speaking to a bunch of Democratic clubs last night at a bar in Manhattan.  read more »

A number of local Democratic clubs, including the Howard Dean-spawned DFNYC, are meeting tonight to decide which Democrat they will support in the race to unseat the only Republican Congressman in the city, Vito Fossella.

They are choosing between term-limited City Councilman Domenic Recchia and Steve Harrison, who lost to Fossella in 2006.

Fossella, a 10-year incumbent who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, is a frequent target of left-of-center groups in the city--his opponent's supporters have called him the "last conservative in the city." (The effort to unseat him has even given rise to a dedicated blog.)

In a similar vein, an email reminder for tonight's event says, “Fossella has been a rubber-stamp for the Bush-Cheney White House.”

Both Democratic contenders have been fund-raising this year, although Fossella has made a point of making it known that he has plenty of money to get reelected.

Hosting the event tonight are the Stonewall Democratic Club, Three Parks Independent Democratic Club, Village Reform Democratic Club and an organization called Truth 13.

Here's the email:  read more »

Here’s the invitation to the kick-off fund-raiser for City Council candidate John Lisyanskiy, who is among the candidates running to replace term-limited Brooklyn Councilman Domenic Recchia.  read more »

 read more »

Michael Bloomberg’s spokesman John Gallagher is releasing, upon request, a statement blasting the legislative process that killed his boss’ plans for congestion pricing.

“What we are witnessing today is one of the biggest cop-outs in New York’s history. After insisting on the formation of a commission to make recommendations for a bill, and then for the City Council to vote to endorse that bill, the Assembly needs to stand up and be counted.  They owe it to the majority of New Yorkers who support this plan, the scores of environmental groups, public health organizations, business leaders, unions, and the public at large, to put this proposal to a public vote.”

Mary Peters, the U.S. Transportation Secretary also released a statement thanking by name everyone but Sheldon Silver for their “leadership” on the issue.

“Thanks to the leadership of Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Paterson, Majority Leader Bruno, the City Council and many other state and local officials and civic, environmental, business and labor organizations, New York has engaged in one of the most vigorous and significant debates about transportation policy in modern U.S. history. While today's announcement, if accurate, is deeply disappointing, New York’s mounting traffic and environmental woes point to congestion pricing as an inevitable solution, even if not in the next few months or with the assistance of federal Urban Partnership dollars. Starting tomorrow, we will engage with many of the largest cities in the United States that have put forward ambitious traffic fighting plans to discuss how they could use this money to cut traffic, improve transit and reduce pollution.”

More reactions after the jump.  read more »

A congestion pricing measure before the Council just passed, 30 to 20.

Domenic Recchia, who is planning to run for Congress, took a pass on voting the first time around, but eventually voted yes. Eric Gioia, who had told the New York Times on March 8 that he was voting no, also voted for it. Comptroller candidate Melinda Katz voted no, but her likely rival David Yassky voted yes. The two candidates for Brooklyn brough president, Bill De Blasio and Charles Barron, both voted against.  read more »

The Bloomberg administration’s plans to revitalize and reinvent Coney Island have been through a noticeable evolution. A year ago, the city wanted to partner with the private landowners in the amusement district at Coney to give the historic hub a makeover, establishing the neighborhood as a regional destination.

Then the city determined that the private landowners—one in particular, Joe Sitt of Thor Equities—were not the perfect partners they had imagined. In November, the mayor announced a plan that would put the city in the captain’s seat by taking control of the entire amusement zone, buying out or trading property with the owners.

Then last night, at a forum at the Museum of the City of New York, a city official acknowledged there were talks going on to reach some sort of agreement where the city would realize a remade amusement district in conjunction with the private landowners, which would represent a reverse from the November announcement. The official, Coney Island Development Corporation president Lynn Kelly, said she could not expand much beyond that, but did say of the plan that “the different landowners could partake in all of this.”

Why the shift since November?

As often with development fights, local politics reign supreme.  read more »

The campaign committee for City Councilman Domenic Recchia just got fined $375 for receiving “over-the-limit contributions” during the 2005 election cycle, according to a public statement by the city’s Campaign Finance Board.

It's not all that much money, but Recchia is now hoping to unseat Congressman Vito Fossella, and his challenger for the Democratic nomination, lawyer Steve Harrison, will likely bring it up as the campaign gets going.

More after the jump.  read more »

Last night at David Weprin’s fund-raiser for his city comptroller campaign, I learned that the City Councilman’s long-time chief of staff, Jack Rubin Friedman, is leaving in January to become the head of the Queens Chamber of Commerce. One attendee told me that Rubin might run for Weprin’s seat in 2009. (Rubin was standing nearby and interjected that it’s only a possibility at this point.)

The event at the Woolworth Kitchen and Towers drew a number of notable attendees: Dan Gardonick, Eric Gioia, Dave Pollak, Hank Sheinkopf, Domenic Recchia, Diane Savino and George Arzt.

Press-shy top aides to Christine Quinn, Ramone Martinez and Chuck Meara, were also there, and probably weren’t thrilled when Weprin announced their presence over the microphone.

Supporters of congressional candidate Steve Harrison are having a fund-raiser this Thursday, and are banking on the anti-conservative message to bring in the checks.

From the email, being circulated by supporters Hilda B. Classon and Betsy Malcolm:

It's true, within all five boroughs, Vito Fossella is the last conservative Republican in our city. Mr. Fossella enjoys an 81% positive rating from the Christian Coalition and 78% from The American Conservative Union. A man whose votes in the House say, “Whatever George Wants, Bush gets from Vito.”

For Harrison, it may be a good fund-raising message, but it ignores the fact that another Democratic candidate, Domenic Recchia, is raising money and vowing to get into the race.

Full text of the email after the jump.  read more »

Citizens Union has posted online its study on how City Council members spend taxpayer dollars to raise their profiles.

I’m not sure what benefit top spenders like Michael Nelson and Helen Sears got for their expenditures, but others at the top of the list are widely known to be eyeing races for other offices: Domenic Recchia is running for congress. James Gennaro is likely taking a shot at state Senator Frank Padavan’s seat. Joel Rivera may run for Bronx Borough President, and James Oddo may run for Borough President on Staten Island.

A reader (thank you!) passed on this invitation to City Councilman Domenic Recchia’s first major congressional fund-raiser, taking place on October 24 at Gargiulo’s Restaurant in Brooklyn.

The invite also includes quotes from newspaper paper stories from the New York Post, Crain’s and elsewhere. They’re a little fuzzy, but I’m sure it’s positive stuff.  read more »

I just asked Democratic City Councilman Domenic Recchia about the story that he leaked information about a Democrat challenging Republican congressman Vito Fossella.

The first reaction of Recchia, who is now is the planning stages of his own run against Fossella, was a long, hearty laugh.

“I was not involved with the Barbaro campaign,” he said, referring to Frank Barbaro, the Democrat who narrowly lost to Fossella in 2004. “I had no idea what was going on in the Barbaro campaign. I was not involved whatsoever. I had no information.”

Recchia says the story was put out there in order to undermine him, because “the Republicans and Vito Fossella are afraid of Domenic Recchia because the internal research is showing Domenic Recchia is going to win. And this is their way to send a message to me not to run.”

About his possible Democratic opponent Steve Harrison, who ran against Fossella last year and is raising money to run again next year,

Recchia said, “Steve is a nice guy. He ran a good campaign on the surroundings he had. He should have been out there last year raising money.”

What about facing Harrison in a primary?

"Whatever happens, happens.”

There may be something of a fight to see which Democrat takes on Representative Vito Fossella, the city’s only Republican congressman, in next year’s elections.

Steve Harrison, a local lawyer who got no support from the Democratic establishment during his unsuccessful bid against Fossella in 2006, just announced that he raised $45,000 in two weeks.

More after the jump.  read more »

The city Campaign Finance Board is putting out some numbers today filed by some familiar candidates for citywide office.

The first total after each name below represents net contributions over a six-month period that ended last week, and the second is net contributions for the entire cycle.  read more »

Newsday has a helpful summary today about citywide candidates who have filed to raise funds for 2009.

The list is led by City Comptroller William Thompson Jr., who has so far raised $519,000 as an undeclared candidate.

Others who have raised money but have not declared the office they're seeking are Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz (about $83,800) and City Councilmen John Liu ($350,000), Peter Vallone Jr. ($232,000), Domenic Recchia Jr. ($84,500), Michael McMahon ($108,000) and Bill de Blasio ($32,000).

So who's missing?

Left off of the list is Brooklyn Assemblyman James Brennan, who has raised close to $11,000 from 49 donors for a campaign to succeed Bill Thompson as comptroller.

Just to round things off.  read more »

—Nicole Brydson CORRECTION: We missed the latest information on James Brennan's disclosure filing with the Campaign Finance Board. Brennan reports total contributions of $154,515 from 800 donors, considerably more than the approximate $11,000 from 49 donors that we originally reported. He has one opponent so far, David Weprin, who has raised $362,413 from 477 donors.