There’s hammered and there’s tipsy. I had major issue when Susan John got nailed for DUI and she was barely over the limit. This guy was more than double the limit.

Now, add to that the hotsy totsy woman who bailed him out (who wasn’t the missus) and has a 3 year old child whose parentage the woman is “vague” about.

Hooooooo Buddy! I smell a JUICY scandal!

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What Fossella and his PR rep fail to recognize is that there is a lot of explaining to be done here because the public has a serious material interest in the many unanswered questions that are mounting every day. Being evasive and not being forthcoming with the truth, but hiding it, does not help the situation Fossella has created for himself. It only makes him look worse, makes getting the answers more necessary than ever, and given his position of influence and power over the lives of his constituents they have good cause and self interest to assume the worse from the evasiveness and to act in their own best interests accordingly at election time. I, for one, can only speak for myself in saying that I would not give much of a hoot if Fossella is having an extra-marital affair on the side because from my point of view that is an issue between him, his wife and children when it is only his family he puts in jeopardy. I didn’t care much to venture a negative opinion when not too long ago a New Jersey Governor opened up and publicly admitted he was gay until further investigation uncovered he had hired his boyfriend for a significant state job to keep him near. That then became an issue of an abuse of his office and also put him in a position to be blackmailed for his influence in policy decisions that do effect the public.

The Advance has done the public a great service, as well as its job, to report this aspect of this scandal and I hope they will continue to probe for the facts and the truth. The public has both a right and a need to know. For those who do not seem to get it, that is how a democracy works – you can’t make good decisions in the dark. Fossella picked a high profile public life and, for whatever one might feel about it, in the real world famous and influential people are always in the public eye. It comes with the territory. When the coverage makes them look good (and gets them votes or movie deals, etc.) they love it and actually seek it out and even to manipulate it to their advantage, often with outrageous publicity stunts that get the most attention. It is only when it exposes their stupidity, indiscretions, bad judgment and scandals that they wish that the pesky media would go away. The moral conviction drawn from that is if you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. So old and repeated that has become a cliché.

Whatever the truth turns out to be about this mystery woman, Miss. Fay, and her three year old child and the relationship with Fossella many serious questions are begged by Fossella’s silence and evasiveness over the facts and circumstances surrounding his day of drunken misconduct and they may have a bearing on a much deeper scandal that the public needs to get to the bottom of. He admitted that he got arrested at around midnight while on his way to meet friends (not going home in his condition after being tossed out of a bar or restaurant for being drunk) and called Miss. Fay of all people after being arrested (not his lawyer, wife or a staff person from his office) at that hour of the morning who lived nearby where he was arrested. Was Miss. Fay’s number the only number he had with him and why would he be carrying that number around with him in the first place? Is she the friend he was going to meet, at that hour? Fossella or his PR rep. will not give a straight or simple answer beyond a no comment or evasive posturing, acting even more guilty than ever, about Miss. Fay or about the circumstances of his arrest and the events leading up to it. With all the scandals in Washington DC involving members of Congress about prostitutes, affairs with congressional pages and the like is it any wonder that the mysterious Miss. Fay has become even more under scrutiny and focus than before? Who is she, how did their connection come about and just what is her relationship with Fossella? She got divorced at about the time she met Fossella with a later born three year old child that is not her ex-husband’s and was once a liaison to Congress for the Air Force is about all we know at this point, except Fossella’s conspicuous posturing to conceal any information about her. A Congressman, much like any person in a position of power and influence over another, like a college professor over a student or a doctor over a patient for instance, with a similar power over pages, office staff or liaisons must, as a matter of ethics and good personal judgment, always avoid the appearance of impropriety or a scandal is likely to crop up as a result. An innocent relationship is nothing to hide. What’s also important is that Fossella has not only destroyed his reputation and credibility but has diminished his effectiveness for representing his constituents at their expense. He also was not only absent that day to cast several votes for his constituents but now, if convicted which is more than likely, will do jail time and deprive his constituents even more on any votes that will come to the floor even them. On top of that the longer these questions go unanswered the business of the people will not be adequately done. All of that makes all of this the people’s business, not just his own.

DWI is far more serious than what Sptizer was accused of. Since Fossella is a Republican, the corporate media are refraining from calling for Vito to resign. There are two standards: one for powerful or wealthy Republicans, another for everyone else.