Vito Fossella's Comeback: Staten Island Loves Family

by Mark Bergen

It’s been a rough couple weeks for family values guys. George “the long stroke” Rekers is adjusting to his new therapy chair, instead of his usual expert witness seat. Jonathan I. Katz is busy scrubbing “Crackpot Science Team to Fix the Oil Spill” off his resume after his raging homophobia became evident in his old but constantly-resurfacing essay, “In Defense of Homophobia.” And the recently resigned Rep. Mark Souder is in shock at his whole ordeal, considering the unspoken “bros before hos” policy of Congressional Republicans (e.g. John Ensign, David Vitter, Strom Thurmond). Fellow Indiana Republican, Mike Pence, tattled after Souder, an ardent abstinence advocate, whispered that he had not abstained from a pretty young staffer. Times have changed.

But take heed and heart, lapsed Men of God. Let Vito show you how a comeback is done! On Wednesday night, the executive committee of the Staten Island GOP nominated Vito “Vino” Fossella to return to the Congressional seat he once held and then lost in a blaze of tabloid-fodder glory.

“There was no explanation. Everybody walked out with their mouths [hanging] open,” is how one “insider” described the evening’s proceedings to the Daily News. But the vote didn’t come from too far out of left field. Fossella’s been hinting at a resurrection for the better part of a year. And Politico had a source-y scoop about his potential run about a week ago.

After switching over from the D to the R column in the early 90s, Fossella quickly ascended the borough political ladder. In Congress, he stayed lockstep as a good Catholic social conservative and voted for the Marriage Protection Amendment, which is exactly what it sounds like. He had so much family values, in fact, that he couldn’t share it with just one. So he got another.

On May 1st, 2008, police in Alexandria, Virginia stopped Fossella and his wing-man, Brian, who were driving and quite plastered. Apparently, the influence got above them at some point during the day’s events, which began with a morning reception for the Irish Prime Minister, continued through a White House welcoming of the champion Giants, and ended at a drinking hole called Logan Tavern. The Honorable Representative had a blood-alcohol level of 0.17. Worst of all, his actions left his district both puzzled and torn.

Yet his colleagues stuck with him. Here’s the normally lucid Bloomberg awkwardly defending Fossella.

Then, one week later, it was discovered that, three miles from the spot Fossella was pulled over, lived retired Air Force Lt. Col. Laura Fay. It became apparent that the divorcee veteran did more than attempt to sober up the visiting pol. Fossella, the father of three with his wife, soon admitted to fathering Fay’s 3-year old daughter, too. On May 20th, he announced he would not seek reelection.

Such a tantalizing scandal, it would seem, should spell a career-ender. Yet, not too long after his fall, Fossella commissioned a poll to see how the two-family fracas would play back home. While the poll never happened, all signs seem to indicate that he remains fairly popular and relatively untarnished.

Staten Island is a strange beast. Its entire culture seems to crystallize around a rage at the shaft it gets from the rest of the city, which I find totally justifiable. (Please, New Yorkers, raise your hand if you have spent time and/or money there. Exactly.) So go their politics. Residents in other boroughs whine (again, justifiably) about excessive overdevelopment. While most SI candidates, regardless of party, will campaign desperately with some variation on, “God, someone come and develop something!” It was the only borough to go for McCain in ’08. It’s also, despite a changing demographic, pretty white.

And New York’s 13th district is made up of the entirety of Shaolin plus the southernly parts of Brooklyn where only the locals venture. After Fossella’s collapse, Democrats salivated over the chance to grab another seat. Organized labor went to bat hard for Michael McMahon, the north shore’s City Councilman, in ’08, running with the platform of “How the hell do we still have a Republican in New York City?!” among other things. He won handily.

Then, like so many politicians before him, he eventually turned and stabbed his backers squarely in the gut. At first he was fairly solid on labor issues, even supporting the once-realistic, now-quixotic Employee Free Choice Act. But then he voted ‘Nay’ on the Democrats’ Big Fucking Deal. Local newspapers covered this as if it were a passion play: he faced the “wrath” of the White House, steadfastly held his ground, and is now “at peace” with his decision. It’s unconfirmed, but he was very likely poked by a nude Rahm Emanuel at some point. McMahon probably figured he could sell himself to swing voters, coming off as a maverick who bucks the Machine. Of course, he may not have calculated that the Machine could easily leave him out to dry. And he certainly wasn’t expected to be facing the man who last had his job.

A Fossella challenge to McMahon, however, might not have unified blessing on the right. The surprisingly influential Conservative Party, who stood by Fossella post-DUI, balked at offering support this time. Guy Molinari, a borough don (his daughter, Susan, held the NY-13 seat before Fossella) and one-time Vito advisor, was in the doldrums about the committee’s vote. The borough’s GOP, he said, “has reached a new low tonight.” He accused Fossella, who was not at the vote, of “playing his usual game,” being a “narcissist,” and putting career ahead of family (singular; I guess he dropped the other one).

That seems a bit extreme. Defenders of the vote suggested that Fossella was simply the strongest candidate. If so, it’s commendable that they judged the field based on professional credentials — on who has the best shot at winning — rather than private histories. Maybe that’s progress? Or maybe it’s grossly incompetent nepotism? In response to the vote, Fossella was effusive but evasive, and is now doing a lot of mulling. All that is to say that Staten Island is an odd place, in a particularly odd political climate. And anything could happen.

If Fossella were to be re-elected, he would have a tiny bully pulpit for moralizing. Or so you’d think. A reduced stance from which to rant about morals and ethics hasn’t stopped the likes of John Ensign or David Vitter. Of course, unlike Vino, they don’t have the virulent dailies to contend with. Which supports my airtight theory that this whole thing is a farce plotted by headline writers. It’s their best shot at keeping their careers afloat, and supporting their own families, however many they may have.

Mark Bergen is impressed.