By: Joe Strupp The Staten Island (N.Y.) Advance, hometown newspaper of Rep. Vito Fossella, called on the 10-term Republican to resign on Friday. The editorial calling for his ouster follows a 10-day period in which the married congressman was arrested for drunk driving and admitted to fathering a child with his mistress.
Fossella, the father of three other children with his wife, has come under sharp attack since the string of embarrassing events began 10 days ago. He admitted the affair and fathering a three-year-old child out of wedlock on Thursday.
"Vito Fossella's well-deserved shame at being arrested for driving while intoxicated last week evolved rapidly in the interim into abject disgrace," the Advance editorial began. "Because of that moral descent, and the distractions and ugly controversy all of it brings, he should resign from his seat in the House of Representatives. And he should do so immediately.
"Far too much damage has been done to his personal reputation and credibility at this point for him to recover and be an effective public servant," the editorial continued. "And there is too much potential for pointless and endlessly embarrassing digressions into this scandal if he chooses to stay in public life."
Fossella's scandal comes just two months after former New York governor Eliot Spitzer resigned following revelations that linked him to a high-priced prostitution ring in Washington, D.C. Before he stepped down, at least four New York state papers, including the Daily News and the New York Post, called for him to leave office.
The entire Advance editorial can be found at:
http://www.silive.com/editorials/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/121033891235240.xml&coll=1
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