OPINION COLUMN: ELLIS HENICAN

Personal meets political -- again

BY ELLIS HENICAN | STAFF WRITER

May 9, 2008

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And Vito thought the DWI might be a problem!

Hardly anyone's even talking about drunk driving now.

Somewhere between the "special friend" and the "love child," the issue of Vito Fossella's .17 blood-alcohol count kinda lost its fizz. Another family-values politician, hoarse from telling other people how to live their lives, was forced to explain his own.

What's with the woman in Virginia? Who's the father of the 3-year-old kid? How's all this going down on Staten Island, where Vito's "beloved" Mary Pat has been quietly tending to the home fires with their own three kids?

By the time all the embarrassing answers have dribbled out, New York City will almost certainly lose its last Republican congressman. The personal meets the political -- again.

That's the pattern with these self-righteous Washington Republicans. Larry Craig and the restroom footsie, David Vitter and the "DC Madam," Mark Foley and turning pages they all have trouble keeping their libidos on a leash.

In truth, the self-righteous Democrats aren't much better: Didn't Eliot Spitzer, the legendary sheriff of Wall Street just turn out to be a high-priced hooker-chaser?

What they all have in common is their relentless self-righteousness.

And now we have Fossella. As he left the Alexandria lock-up with a retired Air Force colonel who looked like no retired Air Force you've ever seen, his career was already over. He just didn't know it yet.

The "friend" had become a lover. The family-values congressman was on the ropes. All involved were reduced to admitting the obvious.

"I have had a relationship with Laura Fay, with whom I have a 3-year-old daughter," Fossella finally said.

Thanks, Vito.

Now, New York Republican leaders, about to lose their majority in the State Senate -- battered every which way have something new to worry about: The loss of their last city Congressional seat.

And Vito's wife is taking her own exit poll.

The only real question as it all comes tumbling down:

Who's first to veto Vito the voters or the wife?