Hastert Aide Blew Whistle on Fossella's Girlfriend

Looks like this affair goes back about five years, which makes one wonder what else may come out.

I've said it before and I'll reiterate my message: He's got to go. A guy just cannot survive the constant revelations and possibly survive as a viable candidate, let alone carry out his current duties.

Rep. Vito Fossella's Air Force mistress was so distracted by their affair that she couldn't perform her official duties on a junket they attended - so the top aide to then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert reported her to the Pentagon, he claims.

Scott Palmer, then chief-of-staff to Hastert, revealed for the first time yesterday that he made a formal complaint to Air Force brass about the unprofessional behavior he witnessed by Laura Fay, the military's top liaison and director of logistics for the 10-day trip to Europe in 2003.

"I lost confidence in her and I'm not going to kid you - I was also concerned with this other relationship thing. It didn't look like it should," the now-retired Palmer told The Post.

It was the first time a government official has publicly acknowledged long-standing concerns about the illicit affair.

"I remember making the call - it was a very awkward call. I didn't want to unfairly say anything," Palmer recalled of reporting Fay to her Pentagon superiors after returning from Europe in August 2003.

Another source, who asked not to be identified, said, "She just seemed to be distracted. Now, in hindsight, I see precisely why she was distracted.

Some may call the guy a rat, but honestly, he's doing his job. He'd be responsible if something happened on his watch and he hadn't said anything.

A tour of the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, got everyone's tongue wagging.

"They showed up late and together. The excuse they gave was that they were getting water for everybody. We had plenty of water," an aide said.

Fossella also did some traveling alone.

He made individual trips, the Congressional Record shows, to Cuba and Bermuda in 2002, as well as a single trip to Italy in 2004. No other House member accompanied him on these fact-finding missions.

Political support for Fossella, who hasn't said whether he'll resign or seek re-election, is thin.

Fossella and Fay remained in seclusion yesterday.

This Way, Mr. Fossella

Here's the door, Vito, it's time to go. Good luck in the private sector.

As if Congressional Republicans don't face enough bad news heading their way this fall, they now have a growing mess on their hands with Vito Fossella, the lone representative from New York City.

Fossella last week was busted driving drunk in Virginia, and that may be the least of his troubles.

Embattled Staten Island Rep. Vito Fossella isn't saying whether he fathered a love child - but his alleged gal pal is doing enough talking for the both of them.

Shapely former Air Force Col. Laura Fay has been frantically phoning friends and relatives, urging them not to talk to the media about the identity of her baby's daddy, a relative told The Post yesterday.

Fay's flurry of calls is designed to shore up a wall of silence since details of her relationship with Fossella emerged when she curiously signed him out of jail after his arrest for drunk driving in Alexandria, Va. last Thursday, the relative said.

When he was stopped, "the subject stated that he was driving down from Washington D.C. to Grimm St. because his daughter was sick and needed to go to the hospital," the police report said.

Fay lives on Grimm Drive.

Hmm, remarkable coincidence, no?

Meanwhile, Fossella also has made several hush-hush phone calls to top-level Republican Party officials on Staten Island to gauge their support amid the swirling scandal, other sources said yesterday.

Fay, 45, has been refusing to talk publicly about her relationship with Fossella, and the relative - who spoke on condition of anonymity - says she has always been cagey about who fathered her toddler daughter.

Fossella - who has three children with his wife of 18 years - has not denied the rumors. His spokeswoman has only angrily declined to comment, calling such questions "highly inappropriate."

No, his behavior, his judgment, his concern for his family, that's what's highly inappropriate.

The GOP, be it the Staten Island branch or what remains of it in DC, needs to send Fossella packing. Now. The Democrats, you can bet every last nickel, will eagerly wrap this around their necks like a millstone. And do you really need another sleazy member in your midst in the wake of other scandals from the not-too-distant past?

We all revel with glee at the demise of Eliot Spitzer, Jim McGreevey and other assorted Democrats done in politically by their sexual peccadilloes. We can't be hypocrites and look the other way when it's a Republican exercising incredibly bad judgment.

He's got to go.

So, there's the bad news.

The good news, you ask?

Well, just consider the delicious specter of having New York City's wackiest Councilman elevated to the national stage, and all the innovative legislative possibilities that may entail.

Sources said party officials have privately discussed who could best hold onto the seat for the GOP should Fossella end up in deeper trouble.

Names being bandied about include Staten Island DA Daniel Donovan and city Councilman James Oddo.

Dream the dream, baby.