Ethics watchdog group files complaint against Fossella

An ethics watchdog group filed a formal ethics complaint against Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) on Monday.

The first official complaint against the Staten Island Republican, filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), asks the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to investigate whether Fossella violated any House rules when he traveled overseas with retired Air Force Lt. Col. Laura Fay.

{mosads}Fossella has been under growing scrutiny since his arrest for driving under the influence on May 1. He subsequently admitted to a long-running affair with Fay and to fathering a child with her.

But CREW’s request asks the ethics committee to focus on Fossella’s official travel, some of which occurred with Fay when she was an Air Force liaison to Congress, and to look into whether Fossella essentially took advantage of such travel to foster an illicit relationship with Fay.

“Reports have indicated that the affair commenced in 2002 during a congressional trip to Europe when Lt. Col. Fay was serving as an Air Force congressional liaison officer who traveled with congressional delegations,” CREW said in a statement. “In the summer of 2003, Rep. Fossella took part in another congressional trip to Europe, during which the affair became obvious to other attendees.”

“Having an affair is one thing; conducting it at taxpayer expense is quite another,” Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said in a statement. “If that’s what happened, the ethics committee should hold him accountable.”

CREW said that the ethics committee should “take the opportunity to consider whether, by using taxpayer-funded travel to pursue his romantic relationship with Lt. Col. Fay, Rep. Fossella violated House travel rules and the prohibition on conduct that does not reflect creditably on the House,” while it is investigating Fossella’s DUI arrest.