CREW CALLS FOR REP. VITO TO BE FINITO.

12 May 2008 // Washington, DC – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) executive director Melanie Sloan released the following statement calling for an investigation into Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY) and for his resignation:

“Given recent disturbing reports about Rep. Vito Fossella’s (R-NY) double life over the past several years, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) urges the Congressman to resign immediately. It is reprehensible that only after Mr. Fossella’s DWI arrest was he forced to admit that he has two families. Aggressive reporting has also revealed that taxpayer dollars helped fund the long-standing affair. By traveling the world with retired Lt. Col. Laura Fay, Mr. Fossella used his position and public money to pursue his illicit affair.

Apparently, former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) was aware of the affair. While in office, Mr. Hastert extolled his party’s devotion to family values. But when did covering up your colleague’s adulterous affair become a family value?

We still may not know the full extent of Mr. Fossella’s wrongdoing. Were campaign contributions or congressional funds diverted to help finance his additional family? While this may be nothing more than a private tragedy, this situation clearly calls for a thorough investigation by federal authorities.”

And this tidbit from TPM:

Later of course it turned out that this wasn't an affair that was in the past: Fossella had an on-going relationship Laura Fay, the retired Air Force Colonel who mothered his child.

What I hadn't realized was that Fossella was juggling at a level usually reserved for the plot lines of thoroughly incredible hollywood movies.

Not only was Fossella keeping his wife and family in the dark about his girlfriend and child in Northern Virginia. He was also keeping his girlfriend and child in Northern Virginia in the dark that he was still married and had a family in New York.

According to the Daily News, which has basically owned this story, Fossella had told Fay that he was separated from his wife. And it wasn't until Fay saw a draft of his press release apologizing for the incident that she realized that he was actually still married.