Viva la Vito: Fossella's Backers and Detractors

12 May 2008 // Lucky for Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.), he has New York nightclub impresario John Englebert on his side.

Englebert, a.k.a. "JE," who you can see here partying at the Playboy Mansion, is offering to donate space at his nightclubs to organize "rallys [sic] and petition drives in Manhattan to keep NYC Lone Republican Congressman Vito Fossella in office."

In a press release titled "Viva Vito!" -- actually, it had eight exclamation points after Viva Vito -- and written in perfect Staten Island lexicon, Englebert said: "Bill Clinton and Governor Patterson [SIC] are perfect examples of how ones [SIC] governmental duties should not be judged by there [SIC] personal mistakes." He called Vito a "great congressman and driving force" and said "tons of Staten Islanders feel the same way."

The press release said the nightclub icon has sent a letter to Fossella. "He hopes that Vitos decission [double SIC] to stay on is felt from the people that elected him not the politicians in Washington that have never even seen Staten Island."

Meanwhile, in Washington, the left-leaning watchdog ethics group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) made no bones about where it stands on Vito's political future.

"Given recent disturbing reports about Rep. Vito Fossella's (R-NY) double life over the past several years, [CREW] urges the congressman to resign immediately," the group's executive director, Melanie Sloan, said in a written statement. "It is reprehensible that only after Mr. Fossella's DWI arrest was he forced to admit that he has two families. Aggressive reporting has also revealed that taxpayer dollars helped fund the long-standing affair. By traveling the world with retired Lt. Col. Laura Fay, Mr. Fossella used his position and public money to pursue his illicit affair."

Check out our earlier posting about Fossella's political viability.