Steve Harrison speaks to members of Peace Action
(Photo: Thomas Good / NLN)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Peace activists held a press conference yesterday to announce the endorsement of congressional candidate Steve Harrison by Peace Action, a national anti-war organization. Harrison, a progressive Democrat, is challenging the incumbent Vito Fossella – recently in the news for a drunk driving arrest and an extramarital affair. Fossella is known for his uncritical support of the Iraq War, antipathy towards Gay and reproductive rights and his professed belief in “family values”.
Peace Action members from Staten Island and Brooklyn gathered in St. George, Staten Island on Saturday to formally endorse Harrison, who is running for Congress in New York’s 13th Congressional District. Previously, Peace Action, the nation’s largest grassroots peace organization, vetted the candidate with questions on foreign policy, nuclear weapons and national security and felt that Harrison would bring to Congress “an intelligent and educated approach to the real security of this country based on international cooperation, respect for human rights, and diplomacy.”
Among the positions taken by Harrison that earned him the support of Peace Action is his stance on the Iraq War. He is one of the original ten signatories to the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq. According to Harrison, “the Bush administration has not articulated a rationale for the continuation of this war. The current objective is not clear and the original reasons given by the Bush administration for the war were proven false. There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Iraq was not responsible for 9/11.”
Steve Harrison, surrounded by supporters at Saturday’s press conference
(Photo: Thomas Good / NLN)
Following the announcement of Peace Action’s endorsement of his campaign, Harrison spoke to his supporters. Noting that he always liked the name ‘Peace Action’, Harrison said, “I see people here who spent time at the Ferry. I see people who spent time in Vito Fossella’s face. Who aren’t afraid to walk up to his office, where he hides out, and walk right in there and stand there and say ‘we want to see Vito Fossella’…they did it and they were willing to take the consequences for it and they became known as the Fossella Five,” said Harrison. “I’m proud of the people in this room because courage is an extremely rare commodity in today’s world and I’m looking at the people who have the most of it so I applaud you,” he added.
Cheryl Wertz, Executive Director of Peace Action New York State, David Poleshuck, Chair of Peace Action of Staten Island, and Vicki McFayden of Bay Ridge Peace Action also spoke.
Wertz pledged her personal support to Harrison, arguing that “we cannot simply replace one individual who’s ignoring the law and disrespecting his family and who has a terrible voting record with another individual who’s obeying the law and respecting his family — and is still going to have a terrible voting record.”
Poleshuck said, “now that Fossella is in a moral crisis, we have many opportunists wanting to jump in and campaign for his office.” Poleshuck went on to say that any Democrat who wants his vote must take a principled position on the Iraq War – and that such a candidate was already campaigning. “We need a principled anti-war progressive running here and he is Steve Harrison,” he said. Referring to some of the latecomers who are considering running, Poleshuck said, “I cannot support a Democrat with the same Fossella policies.”
McFayden, whose son served two tours in Iraq, explained why she supported Harrison. “I know he’ll go to Washington. I know he’ll have the moral integrity to vote his conscience and hopefully inspire others to do the same,” she said.
