HOUSE ETHICS COMMITTEE 'DEFERS' VITO PROBE

21 May 2008 // The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct today announced they will probe Rep. Vito Fossella’s drunk driving arrest, but won’t lift a finger until after the Staten Island Republican’s June 27 trial date or possible sentencing hearing if he’s convicted.

“The committee recommended that the investigative subcommittee defer action on its investigation until the [criminal] proceedings involving Rep. Fossella in Alexandria, Va., have concluded,” the ethics panel said in a statement.

House rules require the ethics committee to decide with 30 days of any House member’s arrest whether to investigate.

But liberal watchdogs Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington had also asked the panel to look into suspicious congressionally-funded overseas trips Fossella took with his mistress, former chief Air Force legislative liaison for the House, Lt. Col. Laura Shoaf, aka Laura Fay. There is no indication the bipartisan subcommittee has any intention of pursuing that alleged violation of the public trust.

“The Ethics Committee deferred an investigation of Vito Fossella? We are shocked, shocked, shocked,” said CREW’s executive director, Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor. “The only thing more shocking would be if the committee decided to investigate anything…ever.”

Fossella, whose DWI arrest led to an admission he fathered Fay’s daughter, is set to retire in January.