Vito Fossella
Encyclopedia
Vito John Fossella, Jr. is a U.S. Republican
politician
from the state
of New York
who formerly represented the state's 13th Congressional district
in the U.S. House of Representatives
for six terms, from 1997 to 2009 serving as the lone Republican from New York City
. Fossella, a Staten Island
native, was born to a family that included several politicians. Fossella initially took office in 1997, after winning a special election held to replace the resigning Susan Molinari
.
As a result of a DUI arrest in Alexandria, Virginia
on May 1, 2008, followed by the public disclosure a week later that he had had an affair with Laura Fay, a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel
, that had resulted in a three-year-old child while Fossella was married, he announced on his official website on May 20 that he had chosen to serve out the remainder of his term, which ended on January 3, 2009, but decided not to run for re-election.
and Italian
descent. Fossella's great-grandfather, James A. O'Leary
, represented Staten Island in Congress from 1935 to 1944. One of his uncles, Frank Fossella
, was a prominent Staten Island Democrat who was a City Council member for four years, ending in 1985. His father, Vito John Fossella, Sr., served in various appointed positions in the city administrations of Democratic Mayors Edward I. Koch and Abraham D. Beame, then became a successful construction engineer.
Fossella, the fourth of seven children, was a basketball player at Monsignor Farrell High School
, where he got his first political experience in the student council. He briefly played violin
and percussion with the Christian
pop band Sonseed
. He attended Iona College
in New Rochelle
, then transferred to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
, where he received a Bachelor of Science
degree in economics
in 1987. At Penn, he was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.
After college, Fossella worked as a management consultant at the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
was the second largest campaign contributor to Fossella in the 2006 campaign cycle and among the largest contributors in the 2008 campaign cycle.
Fossella then attended law school. He received a Juris Doctor
from the Fordham University School of Law
in 1993, and worked as an associate at a medical malpractice defense law firm Schiavetti Begos & Nicholson.
In 1990, Fossella married Mary Patricia Rowan. They have three children and live in the Great Kills neighborhood on Staten Island. Fossella also had a daughter out-of-wedlock in 2005 with retired Lt. Col. Laura Fay.
to become the family's first Republican. "I found myself voting more and more for Republicans," he said in 1997. "For the most part, my family reacted well. But still, I would love to have been a fly on the wall." Under Petrides' guidance, he joined the 1992 re-election campaign of Staten Island Congresswoman Susan Molinari
and, in 1993, the mayoral campaign of Rudy Giuliani
.
Fossella's political career began in April 1994, when he won a special election to the New York City Council
, representing Staten Island's South Shore and Mid-Island section. He replaced Councilman Alfred C. Cerullo 3d, who had left to become Commissioner of Consumer Affairs in the Rudy Giuliani administration. Fossella spent $92,000 in the election, in which he had five opponents.
In November 1994, Fossella was reelected to the remaining three years of Cerullo's term, defeating Democrat Rosemarie Mangano. He served on the Council until November 1997.
.
Fossella won the special election in November 1997, defeating Democratic Assemblyman Eric Vitaliano with 61 percent of the vote. (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9807E1D81130F936A35752C1A961958260&scp=50&sq=vito+fossella&st=nyt)
carried the district. In 2002, he was re-elected with 70 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Arne M. Mattsson.
In 2004, Fossella faced his first close contest against former state assemblyman and judge Frank Barbaro. Barbaro actually won the Brooklyn portion of the district by seven points, the first time Fossella had not won that area; Barbaro had represented much of this area in Albany for 23 years. However, Barbaro performed poorly on Staten Island, and Fossella won there by 26 points—enough for him to win a fourth full term with 59% of the vote districtwide. Some have speculated that he was helped by George W. Bush
's 13-point win on Staten Island.
Fossella was considered a possible challenger to Mayor
Michael Bloomberg
in the 2005 election, but he chose not to make the race.
In 2006, incumbent Fossella defeated Democrat Steve Harrison, a relatively unknown Brooklyn attorney, by a margin of 56.7%-43.3%. Hillary Clinton and Eliot Spitzer
carried the 13th by overwhelming margins.
's list of Republican candidates who qualified for fundraising help because they were thought to be particularly vulnerable.
Steve Harrison hoped to run against Fossella again in the 2008 election, but New York City Council
member Domenic Recchia also began seeking the Democratic nomination.
For several days after his DWI arrest and his admission of an adulterous affair and fathering an out-of-wedlock child, Fossella gave indications that he might run for re-election despite these problems. On May 20, however, he dropped out of the race.
On May 28, the Staten Island Democratic Party endorsed City Councilman Michael E. McMahon for the Democratic nomination, although Harrison said he would remain a candidate in the Democratic primary. On the Republican side, several prominent elected officials considered running but decided against it. On May 29, the Staten Island Republican Party endorsed Frank Powers, a member of the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
who has never held elective office but who promised to spend $500,000 of his own money on the race. However, Powers died on June 22. Powers's son (Frank M. Powers) was also in the race, running as a Libertarian
; however, the Libertarian Party did not endorse him. Robert Straniere
was on the ballot for the Republican Party, and Susan Overeem was the Libertarian Party candidate.
McMahon won the election on November 4, 2008, and replaced Fossella in Congress on January 3, 2009.
, Michael Bloomberg
, and Fossella's two predecessors, Guy
and Susan Molinari) tend to be fairly moderate. He had a lifetime rating of 83 from the American Conservative Union
. Although Democrats have a 17-point advantage in registered voters, the Democrats in this district tend to be fairly conservative on social issues. This kept the district in Republican hands from 1981 until Fossella left the house in 2009.
After years of getting ratings in the 90s from the ACU, some of Fossella's voting record shifted more toward the center. He got a 75 in 2006, a 70 in 2007 and a 74 in 2008. However, in ratings measuring 17 key legislative votes of the 2005-2006 term of the 109th Congress, issued by Public Citizen
, he was the only congressional representative from NY (Senate or House), out of 31 total and 9 Republicans, to score a perfect 0.
After the 2007 State of the Union Address, Fossella crossed the aisle to join with Senator Hillary Clinton in 2007 to raise awareness of health issues suffered those who at worked at the World Trade Center site on and after 9/11. Fossella is quoted as saying "We have made progress over the last year to begin getting the resources necessary to help our 9/11 heroes. However, we now need a significant investment by the federal government into health monitoring and treatment for those who are sick or injured. In addition, the federal government must develop a comprehensive plan to address the health impacts of 9/11. We continue urging the White House to provide adequate funding in the 2008 budget to help all those who are sick or injured as a result of the terror attacks."
Fossella has spoken out against the Bush Administration's handling of appropriating Homeland Security funds.
In August 2002, appearing on CNN's Crossfire
, Fossella argued for partly privatizing Social Security and allow some of the funds be placed on Wall Street investments. He said "I happen to think the President is on the right side of history here. And I think the more you empower American people, the more you give them the opportunity to invest on their own and being in control of their own destiny and their own retirement, the better off we'll be." In a standardized constituent letter in February 2005, Fossella said "We need to examine the viability of voluntary personal savings accounts in which young people would have the opportunity to invest a small portion of their savings."
In June 2003, Fossella wrote an op-ed
for the Washington Times, in which he said "The claims that progress is too slow, the situation unstable and the United States lacks the expertise to get the job done does not reflect reality on the ground in Baghdad, Kirkuk and beyond. Indeed, the critics who complain that the seeds of democracy will not take root in the sands of a desert where tyranny ruled are as wrong today as the pessimists were in 1945." The final sentence of the column was "The United States will fulfill its commitment to Iraq, and then we will depart, having liberated a nation, freed a people and established a democracy of the people, by the people and for the people." In August 2006, Fossella said that leaving Iraq now would "do a disservice to the noble sacrifice that the troops have made on behalf of our national security."
. Between its inception in 2002, and mid-2006, the firm had revenues from local candidates of at least $150,000, including about $40,000 from Fossella.
In August 2006, the Staten Island Advance reported that the two had ignored guidelines from the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, which "strongly" recommend that all House employees maintain "careful records" of political work they do, paid or otherwise. The rules state that "Maintaining such records helps to ensure that no campaign work is done on 'official' time, i.e., time for which the individual is compensated with House funds." Donner said that "There is no requirement to do it," and that the two would consider keeping a formal record of the hours they spend doing political work in the future. Donner added that "We follow the rules rigorously," and "Everything I do is after hours, when I'm home."
Donner's wife separately billed the Fossella campaigns for more than $20,000 of services and supplies between 2004 and mid-2006.
reported that Fossella had spent more than $20,000 of campaign funds to pay for restaurant meals during his 2004 re-election campaign. The funds paid for more than 100 meals at restaurants in Washington D.C., New York, and elsewhere. Members of Congress are allowed to bill their campaigns for meals if the dinners are for fund-raising or strategy sessions. Fossella spokesman Craig Donner said the purpose of the dinners complied with those guidelines.
In June 2006, the New York Daily News
reported that since 2000, Fossella had spent $53,000 in campaign funds on trips to luxury resorts in Las Vegas, Colorado and Florida, often accompanied by his wife and children. Campaign funds also paid for attending a Jets
playoff game in Pittsburgh, playing 18 holes of golf in Key Biscayne
, and ski school for his wife and children.
The Daily News investigation also found that Fossella often failed to identify the nature of the expenses and several times did not disclose who was paying for his trips; as is required by law. For example, he failed to disclose who paid for a February 25–28, 2001, trip with his wife and children to a conference outside Palm Springs that cost $2,082. Donner stated the trip was paid for by the U.S. Telecom Association
, and that omitting the name was "an oversight". In another example the paying organization was not disclosed on another trip, this time in early 2003 to La Hague, on the coast of France.
Fossella insisted that all expenses were for legitimate campaign events or fact-finding missions that are part of his duties in Congress. Donner would not provide the names of donors or what he termed "potential donors" that Fossella met with that justified the campaign expenses.
After the Daily News submitted written questions to Fossella about his financial reporting, he amended 18 disclosure forms that he had previously filed with the Federal Election Commission
, dating back to 2000. Fossella also said he fired the accountant who was responsible for reporting his campaign contributions and expenses.
In mid-August, Harrison invited the media to accompany him to Fossella's campaign office to deliver the letter to Fossella again. Fossella campaign manager Matt Mika, seeing his opponent's entourage and the reporters from the Staten Island Advance and two of the Brooklyn weeklies, quickly typed a response to the letter and faxed it over to Harrison's Brooklyn office at 2:08 pm, eight minutes after Harrison began briefing the press. Mika's response indicated that Fossella would be in Washington during all of the proposed dates and that they would try to come up with alternatives (Staten Island Advance 8/21/06).
In September, Fossella agreed to four debates, more than Susan Molinari and Fossella had been in during all their previous election campaigns combined. In early October, the number was increased to five.
One of the photos was a shot of Fossella with Muppet characters Elmo and Rosita. The News noted that Fossella would need to claim that the two Muppets were people in order to avoid violating another Congressional rule. That rule says that members of Congress can use only one photo of themselves alone in any single constituent mailing — but the mailing also showed Fossella standing by himself by the Verrazano Bridge.
A third problem raised by the Daily News was whether a member of Fossella's Congressional staff took the pictures, a House violation because taxpayer dollars cannot be spent on campaigns.
After the story appeared, Harrison filed a complaint with the Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards, arguing that the four Fossella mailings, which he estimated cost $161,000, contained 14 violations. Donner, said the mistake was "inadvertent," the photos had been taken from the internet, and the flyer with one of the photos, of firefighters, would no longer be distributed.
In August, in his response to the investigation by the commission, Donner said, in a sworn affidavit, that the two shots were different photos in sequence from his personal digital Sony DSC-P100 camera. Fossella said in his response to the commission that although Donner, his press secretary, had taken the firefighter photos, "no official funds were used to shoot the photos or to cause their reproduction." Donner did not respond to written questions from the Daily News about how he was able to take campaign and congressional photos within seconds of each other without violating the rule barring staffers from doing campaign work.
In December 2003, Fossella wrote CB10 that he had "requested $16 million in the Transportation Equity Act currently being developed to be allocated for this specific project." In July 2005, Fossella issued a press release that he had obtained a $5 million federal authorization for the project. In April 2006 another press release mentioned the authorization, adding "An authorization represents the first step in securing funding for a project, but does not represent an allocation of money."
Actual funding for the project has only come from city and state sources. Matt Mika, campaign spokesperson for Fossella, acknowledged in August 2006 that no federal money had yet been forthcoming for the project, but said that Fossella had, indeed, been instrumental in getting the repairs done. Mika said that "the seawall crumbled during Steve's tenure as Community Board chair. It was Vito Fossella and Craig Eaton (the board's current chair) who worked together to secure the agreement to get the seawall and bike path repaired." Eaton, who is also the chair of the Brooklyn Republican Party, credited the site inspection by the Army Corps of Engineers, which he said Fossella had arranged, as the catalyst for the repairs. Eaton also stated that "Fossella and the community board made the case to the comptroller's office and officials at City Hall that the deteriorating conditions posed a serious threat and that repairs needed to be made immediately."
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
from the state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
who formerly represented the state's 13th Congressional district
New York's 13th congressional district
New York's 13th Congressional District is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in New York City. It includes all of Staten Island and the neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, and Gravesend in Brooklyn.A swing district, it is represented...
in the U.S. House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
for six terms, from 1997 to 2009 serving as the lone Republican from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Fossella, a Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
native, was born to a family that included several politicians. Fossella initially took office in 1997, after winning a special election held to replace the resigning Susan Molinari
Susan Molinari
Susan Molinari is a politician, journalist, and lobbyist from New York. She was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for three terms.-Early life and family:...
.
As a result of a DUI arrest in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
on May 1, 2008, followed by the public disclosure a week later that he had had an affair with Laura Fay, a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
, that had resulted in a three-year-old child while Fossella was married, he announced on his official website on May 20 that he had chosen to serve out the remainder of his term, which ended on January 3, 2009, but decided not to run for re-election.
Early life, education and family
Fossella was born on Staten Island into a Roman Catholic family of IrishIrish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
and Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
descent. Fossella's great-grandfather, James A. O'Leary
James A. O'Leary
James Aloysius O'Leary was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from New York.O'Leary was born in New Brighton, Staten Island. He unsuccessfully ran for a New York State Senate seat in 1930...
, represented Staten Island in Congress from 1935 to 1944. One of his uncles, Frank Fossella
Frank Fossella
Frank Fossella is an American politician and land developer.He represented parts of Staten Island as a member of the New York City Council in 1985. Mr. Fossella is a member of the Democratic Party, and is uncle to former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives Vito...
, was a prominent Staten Island Democrat who was a City Council member for four years, ending in 1985. His father, Vito John Fossella, Sr., served in various appointed positions in the city administrations of Democratic Mayors Edward I. Koch and Abraham D. Beame, then became a successful construction engineer.
Fossella, the fourth of seven children, was a basketball player at Monsignor Farrell High School
Monsignor Farrell High School
Monsignor Farrell High School is a Catholic secondary school located in the Oakwood section of Staten Island, New York. Opened in 1961, the school was named in honor of Monsignor Joseph Farrell, a prominent Catholic priest, as well as a religious, political and community leader on Staten Island.The...
, where he got his first political experience in the student council. He briefly played violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and percussion with the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
pop band Sonseed
Sonseed
Sonseed was a Catholic pop band formed at the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, New York in the late 1970s. The line-up included Sal Polichetti ; his then-wife Patricia Costagliola ; Frank Franco ; and Nicky Sciarra . Anne Lessing was also involved in the band from the very start...
. He attended Iona College
Iona College (New York)
Iona College is located in New Rochelle, New York, 20 miles north of Manhattan in suburban Westchester County. The college occupies 35 acres on North Ave. The college also operates a Graduate Center in Pearl River, Rockland County, New York....
in New Rochelle
New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state.The town was settled by refugee Huguenots in 1688 who were fleeing persecution in France...
, then transferred to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wharton was the world’s first collegiate business school and the first business school in the United States...
, where he received a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
in 1987. At Penn, he was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.
After college, Fossella worked as a management consultant at the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited , commonly referred to as Deloitte, is one of the Big Four accountancy firms along with PricewaterhouseCoopers , Ernst & Young, and KPMG....
was the second largest campaign contributor to Fossella in the 2006 campaign cycle and among the largest contributors in the 2008 campaign cycle.
Fossella then attended law school. He received a Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from the Fordham University School of Law
Fordham University School of Law
Fordham University School of Law is a part of Fordham University in the United States. The School is located in the Borough of Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city.-Overview:According to the U.S. News & World Report, 1,516 J.D. students attend...
in 1993, and worked as an associate at a medical malpractice defense law firm Schiavetti Begos & Nicholson.
In 1990, Fossella married Mary Patricia Rowan. They have three children and live in the Great Kills neighborhood on Staten Island. Fossella also had a daughter out-of-wedlock in 2005 with retired Lt. Col. Laura Fay.
Early political work; election
Fossella was a political protégé of Michael J. Petrides, a member of the city's School Board and a Staten Island political strategist. In 1990, Fossella changed his voter registration from the Democratic PartyDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
to become the family's first Republican. "I found myself voting more and more for Republicans," he said in 1997. "For the most part, my family reacted well. But still, I would love to have been a fly on the wall." Under Petrides' guidance, he joined the 1992 re-election campaign of Staten Island Congresswoman Susan Molinari
Susan Molinari
Susan Molinari is a politician, journalist, and lobbyist from New York. She was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for three terms.-Early life and family:...
and, in 1993, the mayoral campaign of Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
.
Fossella's political career began in April 1994, when he won a special election to the New York City Council
New York City Council
The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of the City of New York. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The Council serves as a check against the mayor in a "strong" mayor-council government model. The council monitors performance of city agencies and...
, representing Staten Island's South Shore and Mid-Island section. He replaced Councilman Alfred C. Cerullo 3d, who had left to become Commissioner of Consumer Affairs in the Rudy Giuliani administration. Fossella spent $92,000 in the election, in which he had five opponents.
In November 1994, Fossella was reelected to the remaining three years of Cerullo's term, defeating Democrat Rosemarie Mangano. He served on the Council until November 1997.
Council initiatives
Fossella's council initiatives included:- Authoring the legislation that led to the agreement to permanently close the Fresh Kills LandfillFresh Kills LandfillThe Fresh Kills Landfill was a landfill covering in the New York City borough of Staten Island in the United States. The name comes from the landfill's location along the banks of the Fresh Kills estuary in western Staten Island...
- Conceiving the idea of the South Richmond Rezoning Study, a comprehensive rezoning initiative on Staten Island
- Securing funding for the construction of P.S. 56 and P.S. 6, the first new schools to be built on Staten Island in over a decade.
Initial election
In June 1997, Fossella was selected by executive committee of the Staten Island Republican Party as its candidate to run for the Congressional seat being vacated by Representative Susan MolinariSusan Molinari
Susan Molinari is a politician, journalist, and lobbyist from New York. She was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for three terms.-Early life and family:...
.
Fossella won the special election in November 1997, defeating Democratic Assemblyman Eric Vitaliano with 61 percent of the vote. (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9807E1D81130F936A35752C1A961958260&scp=50&sq=vito+fossella&st=nyt)
Re-elections
In November 1998, Fossella won a full term with 68 percent of the vote. He was re-elected in 2000, winning 65 percent of the vote against Democrat Katina M. Johnstone even as Al GoreAl Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
carried the district. In 2002, he was re-elected with 70 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Arne M. Mattsson.
In 2004, Fossella faced his first close contest against former state assemblyman and judge Frank Barbaro. Barbaro actually won the Brooklyn portion of the district by seven points, the first time Fossella had not won that area; Barbaro had represented much of this area in Albany for 23 years. However, Barbaro performed poorly on Staten Island, and Fossella won there by 26 points—enough for him to win a fourth full term with 59% of the vote districtwide. Some have speculated that he was helped by George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's 13-point win on Staten Island.
Fossella was considered a possible challenger to Mayor
Mayor of New York City
The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
in the 2005 election, but he chose not to make the race.
In 2006, incumbent Fossella defeated Democrat Steve Harrison, a relatively unknown Brooklyn attorney, by a margin of 56.7%-43.3%. Hillary Clinton and Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...
carried the 13th by overwhelming margins.
2008 election
Before Fossella announced that he would not run in 2008, he was included in the National Republican Congressional CommitteeNational Republican Congressional Committee
The National Republican Congressional Committee is the Republican Hill committee which works to elect Republicans to the United States House of Representatives....
's list of Republican candidates who qualified for fundraising help because they were thought to be particularly vulnerable.
Steve Harrison hoped to run against Fossella again in the 2008 election, but New York City Council
New York City Council
The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of the City of New York. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The Council serves as a check against the mayor in a "strong" mayor-council government model. The council monitors performance of city agencies and...
member Domenic Recchia also began seeking the Democratic nomination.
For several days after his DWI arrest and his admission of an adulterous affair and fathering an out-of-wedlock child, Fossella gave indications that he might run for re-election despite these problems. On May 20, however, he dropped out of the race.
On May 28, the Staten Island Democratic Party endorsed City Councilman Michael E. McMahon for the Democratic nomination, although Harrison said he would remain a candidate in the Democratic primary. On the Republican side, several prominent elected officials considered running but decided against it. On May 29, the Staten Island Republican Party endorsed Frank Powers, a member of the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York)
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the U.S...
who has never held elective office but who promised to spend $500,000 of his own money on the race. However, Powers died on June 22. Powers's son (Frank M. Powers) was also in the race, running as a Libertarian
Libertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
; however, the Libertarian Party did not endorse him. Robert Straniere
Robert Straniere
Robert Alan Straniere is a Republican politician from New York City. He represented a district in Staten Island in the New York State Assembly from 1981 until 2004, serving as the Assistant Minority Leader from 1995 until 2004...
was on the ballot for the Republican Party, and Susan Overeem was the Libertarian Party candidate.
McMahon won the election on November 4, 2008, and replaced Fossella in Congress on January 3, 2009.
Committee assignments
- Committee on Energy and Commerce
- Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection
- Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials
- Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
Political positions
Fossella's voting record was very conservative by New York standards. In contrast, most Republicans from New York City (such as Rudy GiulianiRudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
, Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
, and Fossella's two predecessors, Guy
Guy Molinari
Gaetano Victor "Guy" Molinari is a former United States Representative and borough president of Staten Island, New York.-Education and Military Service:...
and Susan Molinari) tend to be fairly moderate. He had a lifetime rating of 83 from the American Conservative Union
American Conservative Union
The American Conservative Union is an American political organization advocating conservative policies, and is the oldest such conservative lobbying organization in the country.-Organization:...
. Although Democrats have a 17-point advantage in registered voters, the Democrats in this district tend to be fairly conservative on social issues. This kept the district in Republican hands from 1981 until Fossella left the house in 2009.
After years of getting ratings in the 90s from the ACU, some of Fossella's voting record shifted more toward the center. He got a 75 in 2006, a 70 in 2007 and a 74 in 2008. However, in ratings measuring 17 key legislative votes of the 2005-2006 term of the 109th Congress, issued by Public Citizen
Public Citizen
Public Citizen is a non-profit, consumer rights advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., United States, with a branch in Austin, Texas. Public Citizen was founded by Ralph Nader in 1971, headed for 26 years by Joan Claybrook, and is now headed by Robert Weissman.-Lobbying Efforts:Public Citizen...
, he was the only congressional representative from NY (Senate or House), out of 31 total and 9 Republicans, to score a perfect 0.
After the 2007 State of the Union Address, Fossella crossed the aisle to join with Senator Hillary Clinton in 2007 to raise awareness of health issues suffered those who at worked at the World Trade Center site on and after 9/11. Fossella is quoted as saying "We have made progress over the last year to begin getting the resources necessary to help our 9/11 heroes. However, we now need a significant investment by the federal government into health monitoring and treatment for those who are sick or injured. In addition, the federal government must develop a comprehensive plan to address the health impacts of 9/11. We continue urging the White House to provide adequate funding in the 2008 budget to help all those who are sick or injured as a result of the terror attacks."
Fossella has spoken out against the Bush Administration's handling of appropriating Homeland Security funds.
In August 2002, appearing on CNN's Crossfire
Crossfire (TV series)
Crossfire was a current events debate television program that aired from 1982 to 2005 on CNN. Its format was designed to present and challenge the opinions of a politically liberal pundit and a conservative pundit.-Format:...
, Fossella argued for partly privatizing Social Security and allow some of the funds be placed on Wall Street investments. He said "I happen to think the President is on the right side of history here. And I think the more you empower American people, the more you give them the opportunity to invest on their own and being in control of their own destiny and their own retirement, the better off we'll be." In a standardized constituent letter in February 2005, Fossella said "We need to examine the viability of voluntary personal savings accounts in which young people would have the opportunity to invest a small portion of their savings."
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
for the Washington Times, in which he said "The claims that progress is too slow, the situation unstable and the United States lacks the expertise to get the job done does not reflect reality on the ground in Baghdad, Kirkuk and beyond. Indeed, the critics who complain that the seeds of democracy will not take root in the sands of a desert where tyranny ruled are as wrong today as the pessimists were in 1945." The final sentence of the column was "The United States will fulfill its commitment to Iraq, and then we will depart, having liberated a nation, freed a people and established a democracy of the people, by the people and for the people." In August 2006, Fossella said that leaving Iraq now would "do a disservice to the noble sacrifice that the troops have made on behalf of our national security."
Legislative initiatives
Fossella's legislative initiatives include the following:- Obthelp repair the 86th Street subway station in the Bay Ridge area of BrooklynBrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. This station serves as a transfer point where passengers connect to bus service to Staten IslandStaten IslandStaten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
over the Verrazano Bridge. - Sponsoring a law to return over $700 million to individual investors by eliminating fees by the SECUnited States Securities and Exchange CommissionThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is a federal agency which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets in the United States...
with the Investor and Capital Markets Fee Relief Act. (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h107-1088) The Act was signed into law by President Bush on January 16, 2002. (http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020116-6.html)
Top aides with their own consulting business
Fossella chief of staff Thomas Quaadman and spokesman Craig Donner run a firm called Danton Communications Group, based in Alexandria, VirginiaAlexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
. Between its inception in 2002, and mid-2006, the firm had revenues from local candidates of at least $150,000, including about $40,000 from Fossella.
In August 2006, the Staten Island Advance reported that the two had ignored guidelines from the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, which "strongly" recommend that all House employees maintain "careful records" of political work they do, paid or otherwise. The rules state that "Maintaining such records helps to ensure that no campaign work is done on 'official' time, i.e., time for which the individual is compensated with House funds." Donner said that "There is no requirement to do it," and that the two would consider keeping a formal record of the hours they spend doing political work in the future. Donner added that "We follow the rules rigorously," and "Everything I do is after hours, when I'm home."
Donner's wife separately billed the Fossella campaigns for more than $20,000 of services and supplies between 2004 and mid-2006.
Use of campaign funds
In March 2005, the New York PostNew York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
reported that Fossella had spent more than $20,000 of campaign funds to pay for restaurant meals during his 2004 re-election campaign. The funds paid for more than 100 meals at restaurants in Washington D.C., New York, and elsewhere. Members of Congress are allowed to bill their campaigns for meals if the dinners are for fund-raising or strategy sessions. Fossella spokesman Craig Donner said the purpose of the dinners complied with those guidelines.
In June 2006, the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
reported that since 2000, Fossella had spent $53,000 in campaign funds on trips to luxury resorts in Las Vegas, Colorado and Florida, often accompanied by his wife and children. Campaign funds also paid for attending a Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
playoff game in Pittsburgh, playing 18 holes of golf in Key Biscayne
Key Biscayne, Florida
Key Biscayne is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States on the island of Key Biscayne. The population was 10,507 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 10,324....
, and ski school for his wife and children.
The Daily News investigation also found that Fossella often failed to identify the nature of the expenses and several times did not disclose who was paying for his trips; as is required by law. For example, he failed to disclose who paid for a February 25–28, 2001, trip with his wife and children to a conference outside Palm Springs that cost $2,082. Donner stated the trip was paid for by the U.S. Telecom Association
United States Telecom Association
The United States Telecom Association , founded in 1897, is the trade association for broadband service providers and their suppliers. The Association represents the broadband industry before the United States Congress, the United States federal courts, and the White House.-External links:* * *...
, and that omitting the name was "an oversight". In another example the paying organization was not disclosed on another trip, this time in early 2003 to La Hague, on the coast of France.
Fossella insisted that all expenses were for legitimate campaign events or fact-finding missions that are part of his duties in Congress. Donner would not provide the names of donors or what he termed "potential donors" that Fossella met with that justified the campaign expenses.
After the Daily News submitted written questions to Fossella about his financial reporting, he amended 18 disclosure forms that he had previously filed with the Federal Election Commission
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...
, dating back to 2000. Fossella also said he fired the accountant who was responsible for reporting his campaign contributions and expenses.
Fundraising
In April 2006, Donner said Fossella would likely raise a record $2 million for the current two-year election cycle, which ends on December 31, 2006. Fossella raised $184,000 in the first quarter of 2006 and had raised $1,025,000 through the first five quarters of the cycle. In the second quarter of 2006, Fossella raised $157,000, bringing his total for the cycle to $1,172,000. As of June 30, 2006, he had $520,000 cash on hand. As of October, Fossella's total raised was $1.3 million, compared to the original $2 million prediction, but Harrison had only raised about $100,000.Debates
In a letter dated July 27, Steve Harrison challenged Fossella to debate him. Harrison listed eight dates for Fossella to choose from in the letter. The Congressman's camp initially denied receiving the letter, accusing Harrison of only sending it to the media. (Staten Island Advance 7/28/06)In mid-August, Harrison invited the media to accompany him to Fossella's campaign office to deliver the letter to Fossella again. Fossella campaign manager Matt Mika, seeing his opponent's entourage and the reporters from the Staten Island Advance and two of the Brooklyn weeklies, quickly typed a response to the letter and faxed it over to Harrison's Brooklyn office at 2:08 pm, eight minutes after Harrison began briefing the press. Mika's response indicated that Fossella would be in Washington during all of the proposed dates and that they would try to come up with alternatives (Staten Island Advance 8/21/06).
In September, Fossella agreed to four debates, more than Susan Molinari and Fossella had been in during all their previous election campaigns combined. In early October, the number was increased to five.
Issues with constituent mailing
On June 29, 2006, the New York Daily News reported that Fossella's campaign had violated House rules by using at least three photos in campaign flyers and in free mailings to constituents that were also on the campaign website.One of the photos was a shot of Fossella with Muppet characters Elmo and Rosita. The News noted that Fossella would need to claim that the two Muppets were people in order to avoid violating another Congressional rule. That rule says that members of Congress can use only one photo of themselves alone in any single constituent mailing — but the mailing also showed Fossella standing by himself by the Verrazano Bridge.
A third problem raised by the Daily News was whether a member of Fossella's Congressional staff took the pictures, a House violation because taxpayer dollars cannot be spent on campaigns.
After the story appeared, Harrison filed a complaint with the Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards, arguing that the four Fossella mailings, which he estimated cost $161,000, contained 14 violations. Donner, said the mistake was "inadvertent," the photos had been taken from the internet, and the flyer with one of the photos, of firefighters, would no longer be distributed.
In August, in his response to the investigation by the commission, Donner said, in a sworn affidavit, that the two shots were different photos in sequence from his personal digital Sony DSC-P100 camera. Fossella said in his response to the commission that although Donner, his press secretary, had taken the firefighter photos, "no official funds were used to shoot the photos or to cause their reproduction." Donner did not respond to written questions from the Daily News about how he was able to take campaign and congressional photos within seconds of each other without violating the rule barring staffers from doing campaign work.
Shore Parkway seawall and bike path
In August 2006, the local Courier-Life reported that Harrison, then chair of CB10, and then-District Manager Denise Virga visited Fossella's chief of staff, Tom Quaadman, in 2001 to discuss board priorities, including its number one priority, the repair of the seawall. Harrison said that they "were told it wasn't a federal matter. We received no assistance, not even any interest, from the congressman."In December 2003, Fossella wrote CB10 that he had "requested $16 million in the Transportation Equity Act currently being developed to be allocated for this specific project." In July 2005, Fossella issued a press release that he had obtained a $5 million federal authorization for the project. In April 2006 another press release mentioned the authorization, adding "An authorization represents the first step in securing funding for a project, but does not represent an allocation of money."
Actual funding for the project has only come from city and state sources. Matt Mika, campaign spokesperson for Fossella, acknowledged in August 2006 that no federal money had yet been forthcoming for the project, but said that Fossella had, indeed, been instrumental in getting the repairs done. Mika said that "the seawall crumbled during Steve's tenure as Community Board chair. It was Vito Fossella and Craig Eaton (the board's current chair) who worked together to secure the agreement to get the seawall and bike path repaired." Eaton, who is also the chair of the Brooklyn Republican Party, credited the site inspection by the Army Corps of Engineers, which he said Fossella had arranged, as the catalyst for the repairs. Eaton also stated that "Fossella and the community board made the case to the comptroller's office and officials at City Hall that the deteriorating conditions posed a serious threat and that repairs needed to be made immediately."
External links
- Re-Elect Congressman Vito Fossella official campaign site
- Profile at SourceWatchSourceWatchSourceWatch is an internet wiki site that is a collaborative project of the liberal Center for Media and Democracy...
CongresspediaCongresspediaCongresspedia was a wiki that ran from April 2006 to March 2009, designed to hold information on the workings of the U.S. Congress. It was fully contained within SourceWatch, a larger wiki meant to document the people, organizations and issues shaping the public agenda. The Congresspedia portion of... - Fossella's Mug Shot
- A chronicle the DWI Arrest of Vito Fossella
- Detailed map of New York's 13th Congressional District (pdf)
