Can I Buy You a Drink, Congressman? Perhaps a Nice Cabernet?

Republican Congressman Vito "Vino" Fossella is really not looking too good right now. His conduct the night of his drunk driving arrest is something he is going to have a hard time living down.


Mug Shot thanks to FossellaFive.org

According to an eyewitness account:

Then Vito Fossella walked in with his pal, Brian, who was evidently drunk. Roberto recognized Vito through his involvement with the Republican Party and invited him over, where I noticed his lips and teeth were horribly stained with red wine.

"Can I buy you a drink congressman? Perhaps a nice Cabernet?" I said.

He was dumbfounded that I got the order right. I ordered one for his pal, too, who shuffled off to the bathroom where I found him later slumped in a chair outside the door. The manager of Logan Tavern caught sight of this mess and complained to our party, which subsequently dispatched the congressman to tend to his lamb...

Suddenly, Brian rose to his feet and stumbled to the corner and fell like a dead flounder on the table, which held his weight for approximately three seconds before it crashed to the ground. I went over and tried to get him to his feet, but couldn't budge his drunk ass until the waiter gave me a hand. We were able to get him up and I walked him out to the curb where I assured him the fresh air would do him good. All the while Vito shook his head disapprovingly with a mischievous, cheap, red lipstick grin on his face.

Roberto was holding the cab door open not ten feet away, but Vito Fossella decided he and Brian were well enough to walk ... and apparently drive back to Alexandria ... drunk and delirious.

Which all is pretty normal for a couple of drunken frat boys. But Vito Fossella is a Congressman and spends a great deal of time on his "family values" high horse, yet doesn't seem to live up to his values. Still, boys will be boys and there is nothing illegal about being a drunk asshole. But then he chose to get behind the wheel of a car. At that point his behavior went from irresponsible to reprehensible and illegal, and he was endangering lives. The comment of the waiter at the bar is telling:

"I can't imagine him [Fosella] getting into a car. They were [both] incapable of driving," Josh Hahn, a waiter who was working Wednesday night at the Logan Tavern, said of Fossella and his plastered pal named "Brian."

Lest you think the waiter is exaggerating, according to the same article:

Fossella...had a blood-alcohol level of 0.17, twice the state's 0.08 legal limit.

No wonder he looks so glum these days (photo from same article):



A new website has the whole timeline of Vito's DWI affair: VinoFossella.com.

And all I cover here doesn't even discuss Fossella's adultery, which some consider the bigger story. To me driving drunk, which risks killing people, is the worse offence.

Democrat Steve Harrison, Vito Fossella's main Democratic opponent for Congress, had this to say about Fossella's behavior:

Driving while intoxicated is a very serious charge. Over 17,000 people die every year as a result of such irresponsible and illegal action according to Mothers against Drunk Driving Only 2 days ago MADD held a luncheon at which I was represented. I stand shoulder to shoulder with MADD in its quest to rid our society of this scourge and I certainly hope that all candidates and elected officials from all parties and all places would do the same. As elected officials and potential elected officials we have an obligation to set an example for society. Lawmakers cannot expect the people to follow the laws if they themselves disregard them.

To me, the key point is this:

Lawmakers cannot expect the people to follow the laws if they themselves disregard them.

You can support Steve Harrison through my NY State Act Blue Site.