NY-13: GOP Leadership To Push Vito Out

Repubican House “leadership” have told Vito Fossella that he has until Monday to decide what he wants to do with his future, and according to the New York Daily News running for re-election is not among his options.

GOP leaders gave him until Monday to decide if he was going to step down immediately or retire at the end of his term. “Mr. Fossella is going to have some decisions to make over the weekend,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio.

Republican leaders have “lost all faith” in him and are casting around for a successor for the seat the GOP has held for three decades. Leading candidates include state Sen. Andrew Lanza and Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan.

Political observers said his once-promising political career is over. “He’s politically dead. The only thing that hasn’t happened is the autopsy report hasn’t been written,” said political science Prof. Doug Muzzio of Baruch College.

I have said this before and I will say it again. His “second family” issues are not an issue for me. We all do things that complicate our lives. And to Fossella’s credit, it appears that he is making every effort to be in the child’s life. However, the drinking, driving AND abusive behavior to police is a different matter. Is it all bad enough to lose a careers over? I don’t know. He’s not the first member to drive while impaired. But Republicans, having suffered one scandal after another, decided they cannot afford to have him hang around. It’s over for Vito Fossella

4 thoughts on “NY-13: GOP Leadership To Push Vito Out”

  1. One deadline is the one given by Boehner: Monday, May 12.  Then there’s June 2.  Candidates can start collecting signatures on June 3.  If Vito starts right away, he will maintain the option of going forward and the chicken s**t Republicans will have to decide whether to take him on in a primary or back off.  This crowd seems inclined to back off.  Then there’s June 30.  He needs to resign “before July 1” to trigger a special election.

    The longer Vito can stretch it out the longer he can use his campaign funds to pay for public relations and legal bills.  Resigning should be off the table because it cuts him off from his $248,000 cash on hand. Of course, he also gets to extend his time for pensions and other goodies.  If Renzi hung on, much earlier in this term, then Vito should and Boehner should look forward to more hostility to him within the Republican caucus.  A “wimp”, of course, stands for a weak, impotent person.  That’s Mayor Bluster, John Boehner.  

  2. On Wikipedia his record looks a lot more like that of a local politician- e.g. a city councilman- than a US House Rep.

    Not that getting ahead in the Gingrich-DeLay House was easy, but he had 11 years in the House, with 9 of them in the majority.  And there just is so little of accomplishment or distinction to show for it- he got local pork barrel stuff and was a party line vote.  To top it off, I’ve seen it said that NY House delegation staffers have long considered him easily the dumbest NY Rep.  (And they were right, apparently.)

    For politicians with more upward potential and accomplishment, a DUI wouldn’t be fatal, or an affair.  An out-of-wedlock child while married…depends on the district’s standards.  I don’t think Fossella’s conservative Italian-American core constituents find it tolerable in their elected representatives.  The men maybe, the women- fugetaboutit.

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