Craig Donner

Vito Fossella’s spokespeople won’t say whether he’ll run for reelection, according to an item in Crain’s today.

“Politics is not what he’s focused on now,” Susan Del Percio--Fossella’s political consultant--is quoted as saying. “He’s focused on doing his job.”  read more »

The notion of liberal Brooklyn Councilman Bill de Blasio running for Congress on against Staten Island’s Vito Fossella is either one of those so-crazy-it-just-might-work things or just...crazy. It would be Staten Island nativism versus the national anti-Bush mood. And the former is pretty strong.

In any case, Staten Island Republicans are, for the moment, mostly amused, it seems. The story going the rounds, confirmed for me by a Republican who was present for part of it, concerns de Blasio’s visit to Vito a few months ago. Bill was still aiming to become Council Speaker and was hoping to win the Council’s GOP minority onto his side.

Apparently, de Blasio had just dropped out of the Speaker’s race, and Fossella’s staff assumed he would cancel. But he trekked out to Staten Island anyway, and had a pleasant discussion with the congressman.

On the way out, a person who was there says, Bill asked Vito to recommend a good local Italian place.

"Maybe he liked it so much, he decided he wants to stay," quipped Fossella spokesman Craig Donner.

Vito Fossella can run but he can't hide from the long arm of the New York Observer. I swear I'm not just picking on Vito because his press secretary, Craig Donner, ignored six (six!) calls...  read more »

Rep. Vito Fossella finally tells us he voted Yes on the DeLay Rule in House Republican Caucus November 17. That's the rule that allows members to remain in leadership after they've been indicted, the one even John Podhoretz and David Brooks flagged as a sign of Republican hubris and a danger to members in swing districts like, say, Staten Island.

"I was in support of the move," Fossella told us this morning at the Sheraton New York Hotel. "The fundamental morality in this country is you're innocent until proven guilty."  read more »

A fine sentiment. But if he was proud of this vote, or didn't think it was a political liability, do you think his press secretary, Craig Donner, would have ignored six phone calls and two emails on this question? Not that I was counting.