GO, VITO, GO! FOSSELLA WANTS TO RUN AGAIN

One of my sisters lives on Staten Island. She and her husband are more Republican than Democrat and we've had our disagreements over the years. But the other day my sister told me that she-- and everyone she knows, particularly women-- have had it with their two-timin' congressman, Vito Fossella. They want him out. Vito wants to stay. The national Republican Party is not happy.

After the electoral debacles in safe red districts in Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi, NRCC head Tom Cole (R-OK) went through a song and dance about all the reasons Republicans can expect sharp losses in November and then he added that another scandal would sink the party. On cue... Vito Fossella staggered, drunk and disorderly onto the national stage to announce that he has two families, one on Staten Island and one more conveniently located near the office. House Minority leader John Boehner (R-OH) told him to resign. He hunkered down in Staten Island with his cronies and decided to see if he could tough it out. Today's NY Times reports that his toughing it out is especially tough on the tottering GOP.

There has been nothing but silence coming from the embattled Staten Island congressman, Vito J. Fossella, regarding his plans to run for re-election this year. And that uncertainty has caused waves of concern not only among Republicans in New York City, but in Washington as well.

All signs indicate that Mr. Fossella, a Republican who was arrested in Virginia on May 1 on a drunken driving charge and then admitted to fathering a child out of wedlock, is leaning toward running for a sixth term in November. He has been telling friends and advisers that he thinks he can win. And though he canceled a fund-raiser scheduled for this past weekend, he has five or six events planned for the coming month.

...[F]or all his popularity on Staten Island, long a Republican stronghold, Mr. Fossella, 43, faces daunting obstacles. If convicted of drunken driving, he would have to serve a mandatory five-day jail sentence. His acknowledgment of an extramarital affair-- he has three children with his [legal] wife, Mary Pat-- has clearly upset many voters in his conservative-leaning district.

Boehner has been conspiring with Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan to push Fossella out of the race, a race, one of Fossella's mentors, Staten Island GOP éminence grise Guy Molinari, says won't be easy considering that 2008 “is a bad Republican year, politically, and that doesn’t help matters.” Molinari says he's sticking with Fossella and that Fossella still has a chance to be re-elected-- Staten Island isn't known for having the sharpest knives in the drawer-- but that it will cost a lot more money than usual, money the NRCC doesn't have-- and probably wouldn't give Fossella even if it did. Most local Repugs are tip-toeing around the tulips and the party is utterly paralyzed and floundering. "Even Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has been a reliable source of campaign money and support for Mr. Fossella in the past, said he was uncertain whether he would support the congressman in a re-election campaign."

In his more recent elections, he has continued to win, but against opponents who have done increasingly well. Indeed, some Democratic leaders have said privately that they hope Mr. Fossella decides to run again, suggesting that the scandals would do nothing but help their cause.

Stephen A. Harrison, a Brooklyn lawyer who was Mr. Fossella’s Democratic opponent in 2006 and hopes to challenge him again this year, has stopped short of calling for Mr. Fossella to resign or step down after his present term. In a statement, Mr. Harrison said, “If he decides to run, the people will decide in November if his recent behavior and revelations should disqualify him from continuing in office.”

He added: “There are great issues to be debated in this campaign-- the war in Iraq, health care, the economy, the environment and energy, just to name a few. It is now my intention to get past this distraction and return to those issues.”

It remains to be seen whether the Congressional race will actually focus on those issues. For now, the attention seems to be firmly on Mr. Fossella rather than his opponents, or the issues.

Meanwhile CREW filed an ethics complaint against Fossella because he used taxpayer funds to court his illegal second wife on whirlwind tours around Europe.