Vito Fossella: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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*Return over $700 million to individual investors by eliminating fees by the [[United States Securities and Exchange Commission|SEC]] with the Investor and Capital Markets Fee Relief Act. ([http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h107-1088]) The Act was signed into law by President Bush on January 16, 2002.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020116-6.html|title=President Signs Investor & Capital Markets Fee Relief Act|date=16 January 2002|work=archives.gov|accessdate=23 July 2015}}</ref>

*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 [[Verrazano Bridge]].<ref>"86th Street rehab back on track" by Matthew Lysiak, ''The Brooklyn Paper,'' February 3, 2007 [http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/30/5/30_05_86thststation.html]</ref>

==Controversies==

=== Use of campaign funds ===

In March 2005, the ''[[New York Post]]'' reported that Fossella had spent more than $20,000 of campaign funds to pay for restaurant meals during his 2004 re-election campaign. The funds paid for more than 100 meals at restaurants in Washington D.C., New York, and elsewhere. Members of Congress are allowed to bill their campaigns for meals if the dinners are for fund-raising or strategy sessions. Fossella spokesman Craig Donner said the purpose of the dinners complied with those guidelines.<ref>Ian Bishop, [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nypost/access/807395961.html?dids=807395961:807395961&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Mar+14%2C+2005&author=IAN+BISHOP+Post+Correspondent&pub=New+York+Post&desc=DONORS+PAID+VITO%27S+20G+TAB "Donors Paid Vito's 20G Tab"], ''New York Post'', March 14, 2005.</ref>

In June 2006, the ''[[New York Daily News]]'' reported that since 2000, Fossella had spent $53,000 in campaign funds on trips to luxury resorts in Las Vegas, Colorado and Florida, often accompanied by his wife and children. Campaign funds also paid for attending a [[New York Jets|Jets]] playoff game in Pittsburgh, playing 18 holes of golf in [[Key Biscayne, Florida|Key Biscayne]], and ski school for his wife and children.<ref name="NYDN-6-25-06">Greg. B. Smith, [http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/429879p-362284c.html "Jet-set Vito flyin' on campaign cash: Donors & lobbyists fund fact-finding in fun places"], ''New York Daily News'', June 25, 2006.</ref>

The ''Daily News'' investigation also found that Fossella often failed to identify the nature of the expenses and several times did not disclose who was paying for his trips; as is required by law. For example, he failed to disclose who paid for a February 25–28, 2001, trip with his wife and children to a conference outside Palm Springs that cost $2,082. Donner stated the trip was paid for by the [[United States Telecom Association|U.S. Telecom Association]], and that omitting the name was "an oversight". In another example the paying organization was not disclosed on another trip, this time in early 2003 to La Hague, on the coast of France.<ref>Greg. B. Smith, [http://www.nydailynews.com/06-25-2006/news/politics/story/429794p-362285c.html "S.I. pol's tab picked up in Colo.& Florida"], ''New York Daily News'', June 24, 2006.</ref>

Fossella insisted that all expenses were for legitimate campaign events or fact-finding missions that are part of his duties in Congress. Donner would not provide the names of donors or what he termed "potential donors" that Fossella met with that justified the campaign expenses.<ref name="NYDN-6-25-06"/>

After the ''Daily News'' submitted written questions to Fossella about his financial reporting, he amended 18 disclosure forms that he had previously filed with the [[Federal Election Commission]], dating back to 2000.<ref name="NYDN-6-25-06"/> Fossella also said he fired the accountant who was responsible for reporting his campaign contributions and expenses.<ref>Greg. B. Smith, [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/story/430246p-362734c.htmlFossella fesses to 'mistakes': But campaign spending lawful, he sez"], ''New York Daily News'', June 27, 2006.</ref>

===Debates===

In a letter dated July 27, Steve Harrison challenged Fossella to debate him. Harrison listed eight dates for Fossella to choose from in the letter. The Congressman's camp initially denied receiving the letter, accusing Harrison of only sending it to the media. (Staten Island Advance 7/28/06)

In mid-August, Harrison invited the media to accompany him to Fossella's campaign office to deliver the letter to Fossella again. Fossella campaign manager Matt Mika, seeing his opponent's entourage and the reporters from the Staten Island Advance and two of the Brooklyn weeklies, quickly typed a response to the letter and faxed it over to Harrison's Brooklyn office at 2:08 pm, eight minutes after Harrison began briefing the press. Mika's response indicated that Fossella would be in Washington during all of the proposed dates and that they would try to come up with alternatives (Staten Island Advance 8/21/06).

In September, Fossella agreed to four debates, more than Susan Molinari and Fossella had been in during all their previous election campaigns combined.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} In early October, the number was increased to five.<ref>Tom Wrobleski, [http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/116031359019700.xml&coll=1 "AARP chapter to host forum by House candidates"], ''Staten Island Advance'', October 8, 2006.</ref>{{deadlink|date=August 2015}}

===Issues with constituent mailing===

On June 29, 2006, the ''New York Daily News'' reported that Fossella's campaign had violated House rules by using at least three photos in campaign flyers and in free mailings to constituents that were also on the campaign website.

One of the photos was a shot of Fossella with Muppet characters Elmo and Rosita. The News noted that Fossella would need to claim that the two Muppets were people in order to avoid violating another Congressional rule. That rule says that members of Congress can use only one photo of themselves alone in any single constituent mailing — but the mailing also showed Fossella standing by himself by the [[Verrazano Bridge]].

A third problem raised by the ''Daily News'' was whether a member of Fossella's Congressional staff took the pictures, a House violation because taxpayer dollars cannot be spent on campaigns.<ref name="NYDN-6-29-06">Greg B. Smith, [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/430906p-363263c.html "It's funny business in Muppet mailings: Vito broke rules with pix usage"], ''New York Daily News'', June 29, 2006.</ref>

After the story appeared, Harrison filed a complaint with the Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards, arguing that the four Fossella mailings, which he estimated cost $161,000, contained 14 violations. Donner, said the mistake was "inadvertent," the photos had been taken from the internet, and the flyer with one of the photos, of firefighters, would no longer be distributed.<ref name="NYDN-6-30-06">, Kathleen Lucadamo, [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/story/431291p-363487c.html "Vito's Muppets mess cost 160G, says Dem rival"], ''New York Daily News'', June 30, 2006.</ref>

In August, in his response to the investigation by the commission, Donner said, in an [[affidavit]], that the two shots were different photos in sequence from his personal digital Sony DSC-P100 camera. Fossella said in his response to the commission that although Donner, his press secretary, had taken the firefighter photos, "no official funds were used to shoot the photos or to cause their reproduction." Donner did not respond to written questions from the ''Daily News'' about how he was able to take campaign and congressional photos within seconds of each other without violating the rule barring staffers from doing campaign work.<ref name="NYDN-8-13-06">Greg B. Smith, [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/430906p-363263c.html "Vito's double trouble: Fossella sez Elmo pix are really legit"], ''New York Daily News'', August 13, 2006.</ref>

===Shore Parkway seawall and bike path===

In August 2006, the local ''Courier-Life'' reported that Harrison, then chair of CB10, and then-District Manager Denise Virga visited Fossella's chief of staff, Tom Quaadman, in 2001 to discuss board priorities, including its number one priority, the repair of the seawall. Harrison said that they "were told it wasn't a federal matter. We received no assistance, not even any interest, from the congressman."<ref name="CL-8-10-06">Helen Klein, [http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=17038341&BRD=2384&PAG=461&dept_id=551971&rfi=8 Fossella Failed On Shore Road Bike Path, Harrison Charges], ''Courier-Life'' Publications, August 10, 2006.</ref>

Actual funding for the project has only come from city and state sources. Matt Mika, campaign spokesperson for Fossella, acknowledged in August 2006 that no federal money had yet been forthcoming for the project, but said that Fossella had, indeed, been instrumental in getting the repairs done. Mika said that "the seawall crumbled during Steve's tenure as Community Board chair. It was Vito Fossella and Craig Eaton (the board's current chair) who worked together to secure the agreement to get the seawall and bike path repaired." Eaton, who is also the chair of the Brooklyn Republican Party, credited the site inspection by the Army Corps of Engineers, which he said Fossella had arranged, as the catalyst for the repairs. Eaton also stated that "Fossella and the community board made the case to the comptroller's office and officials at City Hall that the deteriorating conditions posed a serious threat and that repairs needed to be made immediately."<ref name="CL-8-10-06"/>

== References ==