By Peter Sorkin
He will face newcomer Rose Robles Birtley, a Republican, for the 7th Congressional District seat in November.
Crowley, who had a starting balance of $183,614 as of Jan. 1, 1999, had $437,091 left in his campaign war chest through Aug. 23. He raised $678,983 and his campaign spent $425,506, the documents show.
Crowley once again had no opponent in the Democratic primary after his chief rival, City Councilman Walter McCaffrey (D-Woodside), was forced to drop out in August after questions arose about alleged fund-raising irregularities in his council campaigns.
In 1998 Queens Democratic County leader Tom Manton, for whom both McCaffrey and Crowley had worked, stunned Queens by deciding not to seek re-election to Congress and left Crowley a clear field with no major party opponents because the filing deadline had passed.
Although a majority of Crowley
