Deciding that a DWI arrest and an extramarital affair resulting in a love child are too much burden going into November elections, Representative Vito Fossella has announced he will end his stint in Congress when his current term ends. He posted a letter explaining his decision--he wants to "concentrate on healing the wounds that I have caused to my wife and family"--on his website (the full letter is also below).
Fossella's decision comes after a weekend of what the Daily News calls "one final weekend of politicking", which actually fueled speculation he might consider running for reelection and scared the GOP. Now the Republican party has to consider who might run for Fossella's seat--Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan and State Senator Andrew Lanza are frequently mentioned as possibilities--and some Staten Island Democrats might be up for a run, though there are two Brooklyn Dems (City Councilman Domenic Recchia and lawyer Stephen Harrison) in the race.
All in all, it's a shocking political end for someone who, as the NY Times describes, was considered a "popular wunderkind of Republican politics on Staten Island" and a "family-values moderate Republican." Next, Fossella faces a court appearance in Alexandria, VA for his DWI--the prosecutors have said they will not deal, which means he'll be spending 5 days in jail if convicted.
