Real shocker here. Charlie Rangel missed more house votes than anyone in the New York delegation. I guess lounging on the beach, avoiding taxes and maintaining four rent-controlled apartments takes more time than he thought it would.
Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel missed more votes than any other New York House member, according to a study released by Congressional Quarterly.
Rangel, 78, missed 16 percent of House votes in 2008, partly due to a hospital stay last spring, while the state's full delegation missed an average of only 5 percent of House votes.
Second to Rangel was disgraced Staten Island Rep. Vito Fossella with 13 percent. He missed dozens of votes last May after his arrest for drunken driving and subsequent revelations about his mistress and love child.
At least Fossella's now out of Congress. We can only hope Rangel soon joins him in political retirement.
Maybe since he missed 16% of the votes he should give back 16% of his salary?
Frank Powers, the wealthy Wall Street retiree tapped to run for disgraced Rep. Vito Fossella's congressional seat, died today - sending shock waves through the already reeling state GOP.
News of Powers' fatal heart attack had many party insiders wondering if Fossella would change his mind and run again - but he quickly moved to quash the speculation.
"Congressman Fossella will not be seeking re-election," said a Fossella aide.
Powers, a 68-year-old MTA board member, philanthropist and father of seven, died at home early today, relatives said.
His wife, Diane Powers, the Staten Island GOP party treasurer, found him in bed and unsuccessfully tried to revive him, police said.
Brian Powers, 23, flanked by several of his siblings, read a statement on the steps of the family home in Todt Hill, thanking people for their support and asking for prayers for his father.
If you ask me, he should've resigned a couple of weeks ago. Though at least he's making the right decision not to run again this November. It may at least give the Republicans a chance to hold the seat, but he way things look nationally, those prospects are dim.
Staten Island Rep. Vito Fossella has decided not to seek re-election in the wake of his DWI bust and revelations about his long-term extramarital affair with a woman who bore his child, sources told The Post.
Fossella is expected to formally announce his decision today.
"He is not resigning, but he's not running again," said one source familiar with the situation, adding that Fossella will finish out his term, which ends this year.
A Fossella spokeswoman didn't respond to requests for comment.
But in a statement released to the Staten Island Advance last night, Fossella said he'd decided to "concentrate on healing the wounds that I have caused to my wife and family. . . . I believe this course of action is best for my family and our community."
The decision capped three weeks of daily headlines that began with his drunken-driving arrest and erupted with his admission that he'd fathered a daughter with Laura Fay, a former Air Force lieutenant colonel whom he's been seeing for at least five years.
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.
Rep. Vito Fossella, a married congressman from Staten Island, this morning admitted to having an out-of-wedlock child with a former Air Force officer with whom he carried on a longstanding extramarital affair.
The stunning admission comes exactly a week after the Republican politician was busted for drunk driving in Alexandria, Va. presumably on the way to visit his mistress and their young child.
"I have had a relationship with Laura Fay, with whom I have a three-year-old daughter," Fossella, 43, said in a statement.
Fay, 45, is a retired Air Force intelligence officer who may have met Fossella when she served as a congressional liaison from the Pentagon.
"My personal failings and imperfections have caused enormous pain to the people I love and I am truly sorry."
But the embattled lawmaker, who is up for a tough re-election battle this fall, left open the possibility that he may try to stay in office.
"While I understand that there will be many questions, including those about my political future, making any political decisions right now are furthest from my mind," he said.
"Over the coming weeks and months, I will to continue to do my job and I will work hard to heal the deep wounds I have caused."
No, what you need to do is resign so a possible GOP successor has a chance to win in November.
Looks like Mrs. Fossell may be exercising her own veto.
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.
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.
New York City's lone Congressional Republican, Vito Fossella, is in some hot water after being busted driving drunk the other night, and registered a 0.17 on his Breathalyzer.
Not a good move, especially when he's facing a tough reelection bid.
Rep. Vito Fossella's blood-alcohol content was more than double the legal limit when he was busted for drunken driving in suburban Virginia, court documents show.
The Staten Island congressman failed a police-ad ministered Breathalyzer with a 0.17 blood-alcohol content when he was pulled over in the DC suburb of Alexandria, Va., early Thursday morning, according to Fossella's arrest warrant.
Virginia's legal limit, like New York, is 0.08.
"I was brought up man enough to know it's time to admit mistakes and apologize," Fossella said yesterday at a press conference at the Hilton Garden Inn in Staten Island.
"I know better than to get behind the wheel of a car even after one drink."
The Republican said he had been out for dinner Wednesday evening with Giant fans from his district who had been in town for a White House event honoring the Super Bowl-winning team.
So, you ask, what's so noteworthy? Well, for one thing, he's a Republican, and is readily identified as such, unlike when Democrats get in trouble and you need to guess their party affiliation.
Let's take a look around and see if any other media outlets are identifying him as a member of the GOP.
New York Times? Yes, they do. They tend to forget those details when it's a Democrat.
Rep. Vito J. Fossella (R-N.Y.) was arrested overnight in Alexandria and charged with driving while intoxicated, court records showed today.
This AP item from Newsday cuts right to the chase.
A Republican congressman from New York City is apologizing profusely for his drunken driving arrest, and is begging forgiveness from his family and constituents.
Democrats saw a chance to defeat Rep. Vito Fossella long before he was charged with drunken driving, but his arrest left partisan rivals giddy.
"Even before recent events we were targeting this race," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Doug Thornell said Friday.
Fossella's campaign declined comment, but a Republican operative close to the congressman warned Democrats should not exploit the Staten Islander's misfortune.
"It's a double-edged sword and it has the potential to backfire for someone who tried to use this to their advantage," the source said.
GOP Rep. Vito Fossella's blood alcohol level was .17, nearly twice the state legal limit, when he was arrested for driving while intoxicated in Alexandria, Va., in the early hours of Thursday, according to documents filed today in Alexandria General District Court.
So there you have it. If the perp is a Republican, it's quickly, and, I might add, rightfully noted.
Why can't the media do that when Democrats are arrested?
Calling in corrupt
