Vito Fossella

Vito Fossella
Fossella in 2022
16th Borough President of Staten Island
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2022
Preceded by	James Oddo
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 13th district
In office November 4, 1997 – January 3, 2009
Preceded by	Susan Molinari
Succeeded by	Michael McMahon
Member of the New York City Council from the 51st district
In office April 27, 1994 – November 4, 1997
Preceded by	Alfred Cerullo
Succeeded by	Stephen Fiala
Personal details
Born	Vito John Fossella Jr. (1965-03-09) March 9, 1965 (age 60) New York City, New York, U.S.
Political party	Republican (1990–present) Democratic (before 1990)
Spouse	Mary Rowan ​ (m. 1990)​
Children	4
Relatives	Great Kills, New York, U.S.
Education	Iona College University of Pennsylvania (BS) Fordham University (JD)
Website	Official website

Vito John Fossella Jr. (born March 9, 1965)^[1] is an American politician serving as the Staten Island Borough President since 2022. A member of the Republican Party, Fossella previously represented the state's 13th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives for six terms, from 1997 to 2009 serving as the lone Republican from New York City. A Staten Island native, Fossella initially took office in 1997 after winning a special election held to replace the resigning Susan Molinari.

After a DUI arrest in Alexandria, Virginia on May 1, 2008, it was discovered that he was living with Laura Fay, a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel, while Fossella was married. The two had a child together and lived in Virginia as a married couple while he lived in Staten Island with his wife.^[2] He announced on his official website on May 20 that he had chosen to serve out the remainder of his term, which ended on January 3, 2009, but decided not to run for re-election.^[3][4]

In November 2021, Fosella was elected borough president of Staten Island.

Fossella was born on Staten Island into a Roman Catholic family of Irish and Italian descent. Fossella's great-grandfather James A. O'Leary represented Staten Island in Congress from 1935 to 1944. One of his uncles, Frank Fossella, was a prominent Staten Island Democrat who was a City Council member in 1985.^[5] His father, Vito John Fossella Sr., served in various appointed positions in the city administrations of Democratic Mayors Ed Koch and Abraham Beame, then became a successful construction engineer.^[6]

Fossella, the fourth of seven children, was a basketball player at

After college, Fossella worked as a management consultant at the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu was the second largest campaign contributor to Fossella in the 2006 campaign cycle^[7] and among the largest contributors in the 2008 campaign cycle.^[8]

Fossella then attended law school.^[6] He received a Juris Doctor from the Fordham University School of Law in 1993 and worked as an associate at a medical malpractice defense law firm Schiavetti Begos & Nicholson.

In 1990, Fossella married Mary Patricia Rowan. They have three children and live in the

Fossella was a political protégé of Michael J. Petrides, a city school board member and a Staten Island political strategist. In 1990, Fossella changed his voter registration from the Democratic Party to become the family's first Republican. "I found myself voting more and more for Republicans," he said in 1997. "For the most part, my family reacted well. But still, I would love to have been a fly on the wall."^[6] Under Petrides' guidance, he joined the 1992 re-election campaign of Staten Island Congresswoman Susan Molinari and, in 1993, the mayoral campaign of Rudy Giuliani.

Fossella's political career began in April 1994, when he won a special election to the New York City Council, representing Staten Island's South Shore and Mid-Island section. He replaced Councilman Alfred C. Cerullo III, who had left to become Commissioner of Consumer Affairs in the Rudy Giuliani administration. Fossella spent $92,000 in the election, in which he had five opponents.^[10]

In November 1994, Fossella was reelected to the remaining three years of Cerullo's term, defeating Democrat Rosemarie Mangano. He served on the Council until November 1997.

Fossella's council initiatives included:

• Authoring the legislation that led to the agreement to close the Fresh Kills Landfill permanently
• Conceiving the idea of the South Richmond Rezoning Study, a comprehensive rezoning initiative on Staten Island
• Securing funding for constructing P.S. 56 and P.S. 6, the first new schools built on Staten Island in over a decade.

In June 1997, Fossella was selected by executive committee of the Staten Island Republican Party as its candidate to run for the Congressional seat being vacated by Representative Susan Molinari.^[11] Fossella won the special election in November 1997, defeating Democratic Assemblyman Eric Vitaliano with 61 percent of the vote.^[12]

In November 1998, Fossella won a full term with 68 percent of the vote. He was reelected in 2000, winning 65 percent of the vote against Democrat Katina M. Johnstone even as Al Gore carried the district. In 2002, he was reelected with 70 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Arne M. Mattsson.

In 2004, Fossella faced his first close contest against former state assemblyman and judge Frank J. Barbaro. Barbaro won the Brooklyn portion of the district by seven points, the first time Fossella had not won that area; Barbaro had represented much of this area in Albany for 23 years. However, Barbaro performed poorly on Staten Island, and Fossella won by 26 points—enough to win a fourth full term with 59% of the vote districtwide. Some have speculated that he was helped by George W. Bush's 13-point win on Staten Island.

Fossella was considered a possible challenger to Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the 2005 election,^[13] but he chose not to make the race.

In 2006, incumbent Fossella defeated Democrat Steve Harrison, a relatively unknown Brooklyn attorney, by a margin of 56.7%-43.3%.

Before Fossella announced that he would not run in 2008, he was included in the National Republican Congressional Committee's list of Republican candidates who qualified for fundraising help because they were considered particularly vulnerable.^[14]

Steve Harrison hoped to run against Fossella again in the 2008 election, but New York City Council member Domenic Recchia also began seeking the Democratic nomination.^[15]

Fossella became mired in controversy in May 2008. He was, first, arrested in Alexandria, Virginia. Details of his arrest led to the revelation that Fossella, a self-proclaimed "family values" politician, had kept a secret second family in Washington, D.C., including a three-year old child that he had fathered out-of-wedlock.^[16] Fossella, at first, indicated that he might run for re-election despite these problems.^[17] On May 20, however, he dropped out of the race.^[4] Fossella was succeeded by Democrat Michael McMahon.

• Committee on Energy and Commerce
  • Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection
  • Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials
  • Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet

In August 2002, appearing on CNN's

In June 2003, Fossella wrote an

Fossella voted for the Marriage Protection Act in 2004 and for the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and 2006, all of which would nationally define marriage as between a man and a woman. In 2007, Fossella voted for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill nationally prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation.^[21]

In 2005, Fossella spoke out against the Bush Administration's handling of appropriating Homeland Security funds.

After the 2007 State of the Union Address, Fossella crossed the aisle to join with Senator

Fossella's legislative initiatives while in Congress included the following:

• Return over $700 million to individual investors by eliminating fees by the
  SEC with the Investor and Capital Markets Fee Relief Act.^[24] The Act was signed into law by President Bush on January 16, 2002.^[25]
• Help repair the 86th Street subway station in the
  Verrazano Bridge.^[26]

In March 2021, Fossella announced that he was running for Borough president of Staten Island.^[27][28][29] He was endorsed by Donald Trump and won the Republican nomination in July 2021.^[30][31] He was elected borough president after defeating opponents Mark Murphy and Leticia Remauro.^[32] Fosella won the November general election.^[16] He took office in January 2022.

• List of federal political sex scandals in the United States