House Special Election in New York?
We know about Vito Fossella (NY-13)and that he is not running for reelection. We also know that there is mandatory Jail time if he is convicted for his DUI arrest.
If he resigns what happens then? From The Hill.
If Fossella has to serve jail time and steps down to avoid forcing House Republicans to deal with having a member of their conference locked up, he could trigger a special election in his district.
Under state law, any resignation before July 1 gives New York’s Democratic Gov. David Paterson the option of calling a special election. And Republicans have lost three special House elections since March. If Fossella resigned after July 1, there would be no special election and the seat would remain empty for the remainder of the term.
Interesting - New York’s own Special Election? The key date is July 1st.
Again - NY13blog will be all over it when the time comes.
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Very interesting.
Fossella’s court date is June 27th and the House Ethics committee won’t move on this until after legal proceedings. So doubtful there is any reason he resigns before July 1. If he doesn’t give the NRCC his money the party may move to force him out after July 1.
One wrinkle is that a special election allows the parties to pick the candidates, rather than the primary free-for-all that seems possible right now. However, the NRCC doesn’t relish having to spend on another special election, so it will be interesting to see what happens. My sense was that Vito wanted to stay through his term.