in 1997
Initial election 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. Fossella won the special election in November 1997, defeating Democratic Assemblyman
Eric Vitaliano with 61 percent of the vote. , and
Rudy Giuliani in 2002.
Re-elections 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. and
Peter King in 2004. 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, 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%.
Family scandal and congressional retirement 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. 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. 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. Fossella, at first, indicated that he might run for re-election despite these problems. On May 20, however, he dropped out of the race. Fossella was succeeded by Democrat
Michael McMahon.
Committee assignments •
Committee on Energy and Commerce • Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection • Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials • Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
Political positions In August 2002, appearing on CNN's
Crossfire, Fossella argued for partly privatizing Social Security and allowing some of the funds to be placed on Wall Street investments. He said, "I happen to think the President is on the right side of history here. And I think the more you empower American people, the more you give them the opportunity to invest on their own and being in control of their own destiny and their own retirement, the better off we'll be." In June 2003, Fossella wrote an
op-ed for
The Washington Times, in which he said, "The claims that progress is too slow, the situation unstable and the United States lacks the expertise to get the job done does not reflect reality on the ground in Baghdad, Kirkuk and beyond. Indeed, the critics who complain that the seeds of democracy will not take root in the sands of a desert where tyranny ruled are as wrong today as the pessimists were in 1945." The final sentence of the column was, "The United States will fulfill its commitment to Iraq, and then we will depart, having liberated a nation, freed a people and established a democracy of the people, by the people and for the people." In August 2006, Fossella said that leaving Iraq now would "do a disservice to the noble sacrifice that the troops have made on behalf of our national security." 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. 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
Hillary Clinton in 2007 to raise awareness of health issues suffered by those who worked at the
World Trade Center site on and after 9/11. Fossella said, "We have made progress over the last year to begin getting the resources necessary to help our 9/11 heroes. However, we now need a significant investment by the federal government into health monitoring and treatment for those who are sick or injured. In addition, the federal government must develop a comprehensive plan to address the health impacts of 9/11. We continue urging the White House to provide adequate funding in the 2008 budget to help all those who are sick or injured as a result of the terror attacks."
Legislative initiatives In Congress, Fossella was the lead sponsor of seven bills signed into law. He also cosponsored nearly 110 bills that became law, including the
SAFE Port Act. 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. The Act was signed into law by President Bush on January 16, 2002. • Help repair the 86th Street subway station in the
Bay Ridge area of
Brooklyn. This station serves as a transfer point where passengers connect to bus service to
Staten Island over the
Verrazzano Bridge. ==Staten Island Borough President==