Steve Harrison has named Greg Collett as his new campaign manager.

Greg Collett, a graduate of George Washington University Law School, recently stepped down as a director at Deutsche Bank, where he developed and managed the bank's exchange traded commodity fund business.

Before his work at Deutsche Bank, Collett had experience as a legislative aide to a New Jersey state senator and on various campaigns.

Collett had previously been involved with Harrison's campaign in a fundraising capacity.

Also, longtime Harrison volunteer David Hernandez, a Staten Island resident and a member of the Richmond County Democratic Committee, is the campaign's new field coordinator.

"I'm relieved Vito Fossella finally made a decision. I believe he made the obvious one. I hope he and his family find peace in the near future and I ask Mr. Fossella to represent us well during the remainder of his term.

"I now turn my attention back to the issues facing the people of the district and America, like Iraq, healthcare, energy, the environment and, of course the economy. Many in the district have suffered foreclosures and lost jobs. I look forward to debating these issues with the Republican candidate, no matter who that may be. I have not been running against Vito Fossella. I have been running for Congress and I will continue to do so."

Due to Vito Fossella's personal problems, the battle for the 13th congressional seat is now very competitive.

Steve Harrison based on his performance in 2006, where he did better against Vito Fossella than any other candidate and his non-stop effort to build name-recognition within the district over the past two years, has earned him the support of the vast majority of Democrats within the district.

It was a good week for Steve Harrison. On Sunday February 24th, the local chapter of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) voted unanimously to endorse Steve Harrison for Congress. The Progressive Democrats' national organization voted later in the week to give their endorsement to Steve Harrison.

On Monday the Democratic Organization of the County of Richmond (DOCR) voted to give Steve Harrison their endorsement.  88% of the DOCR members voted for Steve Harrison.

What is most significant about these endorsements and the endorsement he received earlier from the Staten Island Democratic Association (SIDA) is wide margins by which he is winning their endorsements, 87% of the vote from SIDA members, 88% from DOCR members and all the PDA members. Also while SIDA and PDA are progressive organizations, DOCR is considered the most conservative among the Staten Island Democratic Clubs. This demonstrates the broad support Steve Harrison has among Democrats on Staten Island.

The Staten Island Democratic Association (SIDA) voted 42 to 6 to endorse Steve Harrison for Congress.

As the wide margin of victory demonstrates, SIDA believes that Mr. Harrison is the best candidate to take on Congressman Vito Fossella.

http://www.sidems.org/

Congressman Fossella on Friday, January 25th, gave the Republican weekly address (can be accessed through his congressional web site).

Mr. Fossella criticized the Democrats for not voting to extend the changes to the FISA law, which Congress had passed in August but which is due to expire in the beginning of February.

However, Mr. Fossella failed to mention that the House had passed an update to FISA on November 15th. Could it be that he did not want to mention the bill that passed in November because he voted against it?

On November 1, 2007^t Congresman Fossella voted against the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act (HR 2262, Roll Call Vote 1033). This Act requires miners on federal lands to pay royalties of 8 percent of gross income on new mining operations, four percent on existing operations.

Under current law multi-national conglomerates are permitted to stake mining claims on federal lands in the 11 western states and Alaska and to produce valuable hardrock minerals such as gold, silver, and copper without paying any royalty to the public. Further, the law contains no mining and reclamation standards, and provides for claimed lands to be sold for between $2.50 and $5.00 an acre.

In keeping with his anti-consumer/anti-union voting record, on September 20, 2007, Congressman Fossella voted against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2007, (H.R. 2881 Roll Call Vote 890). Below are some of the provisions contained in this legislation.

Provides the funding required to modernize the Air Traffic Control system

Three of the Democratic Clubs on Staten Island, the Staten Island Democratic Association, the Democratic Organization of Richmond County and the Young Democrats of Richmond County will be holding a fund raiser for Steve Harrison on Sunday, September 30th. Steve Harrison has announced that he is running for Congress against Republican Vito Fossella. 

Sunday Brunch

September 30, 2007

11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The location and time remain the same (See post below) but the date of his annoucement that he will run for Congress has been moved to Thursday August 9th

August did not start out well for the people of the 13th Congressional District who are represented by Congressman Fossella.

On Wednesday August 1st, Congressman Fossella voted against the Childrens' Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007. (H.R. 3162 - Rol Call Vote 787). This legislation will give an additional 6 million children healthcare coverage.

On Thursday August 2nd, he voted against the Ensuring Military Readiness Through Stability and Predictability Deployment Policy Act (H.R. 3159 - Roll Call Vote 796). This legislation would require that active-duty troops receive a rest period equal to their deployment period and members of the National Guard and Reserves to receive a rest period equal to three times their deployment period.

Steve Harrison will announce that he will run against Vito Fossella in 2008. Press conference will be held at Arthur Von Briesen Park ( The park next to the entrance to Ft Wadsworth on Bay St) at 12:30pm on Wednesday August 8th.

No surprise here. Congressman Fossella continues to show his support for the Bush Iraq war strategy. He is the only member of Congress from NYC that supports President Bush on Iraq.

On Thursday, July 12^th he voted against (Roll Call Vote 624) the Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act (H.R. 2956). The legislation did pass.

This legislation requires that our troops begin withdrawing from Iraq no later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and that the reduction and transition to a limited presence in Iraq be completed by no later than April 1, 2008.

For those of you who do not follow Staten Island politics closely, Tom Wrobleski, the Staten Island Advance's political editor had a very informative column this week on the two men who faced off against each other in 2006.

http://www.silive.com/columnists/wrob/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1183894275105820.xml&coll=1

On June 28th, Congressman Fossella voted (roll call vote 596) against Congressman Rahm Emanuel’s amendment H. AMDT. 480.

This amendment would have cut about $4 million spent annually to pay for Vice President Cheney's house, its upkeep, his transportation and his entertainment budget.

The amendment was in response to Vice President Cheney’s continued drive to keep his actions secret by his failure to comply with federal rules on filing classified documents.

Congressman Fossella continued support for Vice President Cheney is no surprise. During last year’s campaign, Vice President Cheney hosted a major fund-raiser for Congressman Fossella. The Congressman knows where his bread is buttered.