US News

VITO A PARTY FAVE

Leaders of the Staten Island Republican Party are rallying around scandal-scarred Rep. Vito Fossella – enthusiastically backing his re-election, despite embarrassing disclosures about the married incumbent’s DWI arrest and secret love child.

Two of the top officers of the Richmond County GOP told The Post they stand behind Fossella – who has campaigned on family values – and predicted he will be overwhelmingly nominated for re-election if he decides to run.

The local party will conduct interviews Wednesday for candidates running for the House of Representatives seat this fall, and GOP officials presume Fossella will be their candidate.

“To my knowledge, Vito is running, and I am there for him,” said party secretary Bonnie Bibula.

“I’m fully supportive of Vito. I absolutely want him to run [again]. He’s done more for Staten Island than anyone I know. He’s our congressman,” Bibula said.

Fossella was first elected to Congress in 1997.

Staten Island GOP vice chairman Mary Reilly insisted that Fossella’s record as a congressman outweighs the DWI arrest and his cheating ways.

“As far as I know, Vito is our candidate. I have not heard otherwise,” Reilly said. “Everyone has overwhelmingly supported Vito. He’s done a good job, and he’s delivered.”

Reilly said Fossella’s DWI arrest was a “dumb mistake.”

But she said she would not judge Fossella for his secret double life – having a lover in Washington, DC, and fathering a 3-year-old girl out of wedlock behind wife Mary Pat’s back.

“That’s between him and Mary Pat,” Reilly said.

News of Fossella’s affair and love child surfaced after he had phoned the mother, ex-congressional military liaison Laura Fay, to bail him out of the slammer when his DWI arrest outside of Washington earlier this month.

He has given hints that he’s trying to ride out the controversy and seek re-election.

On Friday, he surprisingly showed up at the Richmond County Conservative Party’s annual dinner. He has run under the Conservative Party banner in his prior elections.

On Saturday, Fossella also marched in the borough’s well-attended Memorial Day Parade.

The GOP’s circling of the wagons around Fossella clashes with the House Republican leadership in Congress, which seems mortified at running a candidate who doesn’t practice family values.

carl.campanile@nypost.com