Embattled Staten Island Rep. Vito Fossella has decided not to seek re-election in the wake of his DWI bust and revelations about his long-term extramarital affair with a woman who bore his child, The Post has learned.
Fossella is expected to announce his decision Tuesday, sources said.
“He is not resigning, but he’s not running again,- said one source familiar with the situation, adding that Fossella will finish out his term, which ends this year.
A Fossella spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.
The decision capped three weeks of daily headlines that began with his drunken-driving arrest and erupted with his admission that he’d fathered a girl with a Virginia woman named Laura Fay, a former Air Force lieutenant colonel whom he has been seeing for at least five years.
The decision to end his time in Congress came after two weeks of pressure from national Republicans, who are nervous about holding onto their lone seat in New York City and didn’t want to sink scant resources into a tough race.
The decision also came just days after the six-term congressman tested the waters with a string of public appearances, including popping into the Staten Island Conservative Party dinner on Friday night and marching in a parade.
He was mostly well received at both.
But he had a tough road ahead mending fences with officials in the family values-oriented Conservative Party, whose ballot line he would badly need. Party officials had made clear they wouldn’t give it to him easily.
And he had made clear, several sources said, that his main concern was for his children – his three with wife Mary Pat, and his daughter with Fay.
Mary Pat has not been seen with him since his press conference the day after his arrest, and several sources have said she is considering divorce.
Fossella was arrested early in the morning on May 1, after he was pulled over on a Virginia road and officials said his blood-alcohol level tested at .17, more than twice the legal limit. He faces up to five days in jail.
His double life started to unravel after word broke that he told the arresting officer he was on his way to visit his sick daughter.
From there, word emerged that a mystery woman had picked him up from jail. She was later identified as Fay, a single mom. After days of questions about the paternity of her little girl, Fossella admitted he was her father.
The top prospect for Fossella’s seat is Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan, who has the support of several top GOP officials, sources said.
A Donovan spokesman couldn’t be reached last night.