Topic: Laura Fay

Vito John Fossella, Jr. (born March 9, 1965) is a former U.S. Republican politician from the state of New York who represented the state's 13th Congressional district (map) in the U.S. House of Representatives for six terms, from 1997 to 2009. Fossella, a Staten Island native, was born to a family that included several politicians. 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, 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.

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 for four years, ending in 1985. His father served in various appointed positions in the city administrations of Democratic Mayors Edward I. Koch and Abraham D. Beame, then became a successful construction engineer.