New York’s Own Vito Fossella (R-Staten Island and a slice of Brooklyn) made a bit of a woopsy last night

Rep. Vito J. Fossella (R-N.Y.) was arrested overnight in Alexandria and charged with driving while intoxicated, court records showed today.

Fossella is scheduled to appear in Alexandria General District Court on May 12 for an advisement hearing, the records said.

No other details were immediately available.

Reached by phone, Fossella’s communication director had no immediate comment on the report.

Turns out he was more than a little over the limit

Court records show that Rep. Vito Fossella had a blood-alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit when he was arrested on drunken driving charges this week.

Court papers indicate that Fossella’s blood-alcohol level was 0.17 percent when he was arrested early Thursday in Alexandria, Va. The legal limit in Virginia is 0.08 percent.

When Rep. Fossella did comment, it sorta didn’t help

Staten Island Rep. Vito Fossella begged forgiveness from his family and his constituents this afternoon after a drunken driving arrest in Virginia that could send him to jail.

"I’m here to apologize to the people I represent," Fossella said at a press conference on Staten Island.

"I’m grown up and man enough to know that I made a mistake."

Fossella refused to say what he drank – or how much – on Wednesday night when he went carousing with constituents after visiting the White House for a ceremony honoring the Giants.

but he did suggest he was saying how much he’d had to drink

Fossella spoke for about six minutes, and walked away when I tried asking if he would enter rehab. An aide said later there was no need for it.

“I know better than to get behind the wheel of a car even after one drink,” Fossella said. A television reporter later asked if the statement was misleading, since it’s been reported that a Breathalyzer administered when he was pulled over showed he had twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system.

“The lesson I’ve learned and reaffirmed and underscore is that the mistake will never happen again. I will not get behind the wheel, even after one drink,” Fossella said. “As for the specifics of the case itself, I cannot comment on a pending legal matter."

Just one drink.

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as this helpful table indicates, an average-sized (in the US that’s around 175 pounds) man would have to consume eight drinks to get his blood alcohol up to .17.

With the additional information provided in this helpful table, we can determine that Rep. Fossella’s single drink was, roughly, either a ten ounce shot of hard liquor, a Big Gulp of wine, or a Super Big Gulp of beer.

It is, in fairness, also possible that Rep. Fossella consumed a single standard-sized drink and just happens to be a female toddler.

Now, I’ll grant you that things haven’t been going too well for Fossella lately. He only has about $250 k cash on hand, and after you pay for one illegal campaign mailer claiming the muppet endorsement (a favored tactic of the congressman’s) that barely leaves enough for family trips.

He’s also vehemently anti-abortion and anti-contraception, which is generally popular with his constituents on Staten Island. It does, however, mean that his strategic decision to make himself the congressional liaison for the pro-choice presidential campaign of Our Beloved Former Mayor didn’t, in the end, work out too well for him

He does have some friends left, such as they are

Dick Cheney will be a featured guest at an April 21 fund-raising lunch for Vito Fossella, the city’s only Republican congressman, a sign that the national Republican Party is putting in a major effort to hold onto the seat.

Fossella represents parts of Brooklyn and Staten Island. The event is taking place at 740 Park Avenue in Manhattan, at the home of Republican contributors David and Julia Koch

The invite, which a reader passed along, reminds guests to get there early “to allow for required security checks”

and Mr Koch isn’t all that popular either

While one of his Democratic challengers joined dozens of protesters on the sidewalk below, GOP Rep. Vito Fossella entertained Vice President Dick Cheney at a Fossella fund-raiser hosted by billionaire oil executive David Koch yesterday at Koch’s Upper East Side home.

Fossella (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn), as he has done in the past, declined to say how much was raised at the event, saying only that it was a "success."

"It accomplished the goal of helping us to raise the money we’ll need to run a competitive race," Fossella said.

The exact take won’t be known until the Fossella campaign files financial disclosure forms with the Federal Election Commission.

Democrat Stephen Harrison lambasted Fossella for joining with Koch, whose oil company has been fined millions of dollars for environmental violations.

Pointing to the celebration of Earth Day today, Harrison said:

"The timing of the fund-raiser drove this as much as anything. Koch Industries is one of the most prolific polluters of the environment that we’re aware of."

In 2000, Koch Industries agreed to pay $35 million in fines and penalties as part of a settlement over alleged contamination of lakes and streams in six states from Missouri to Texas.

At the time, it was the largest civil penalty ever levied against a single company under the Clean Water Act.

In 2001, Koch Industries agreed to pay a $20 million fine to avoid trial on charges it violated federal air pollution laws and then tried to cover it up.

"These are the kind of people that you’d expect an experienced politician to run away from," said Harrison, who lost a 2006 race to Fossella.

and that’s not just the war and environment boxes checked. It’s also gas prices _and_ the infamous Culture of Corruption

The U.S. Department of Energy’s selection of Koch Supply & Trading, LP, to supply oil to the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), is drawing fire from groups who accuse the administration of rewarding one of the Republican Party’s largest donors with a plum government contract.

Koch Industries and one of the company’s senior officers have made hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions since 1999 and before, with federal election records showing the bulk of those contributions going to Republicans.

…

Quid Pro Quo?

According to Federal Election Commission data compiled by The Center for Responsive Politics, the Koch Industry PAC gave $436,774 to congressional candidates during the 2000 election cycle with 76 percent going to Republicans and 24 percent going to Democratic candidates.

David Hamilton Koch, executive vice president and Koch Industries board member, made personal contributions of $250,000 to the Republican National Committee between 1999 and 2002.

The PAC also gave $5,000 to President Bush’s 2000 campaign, and David Koch gave $1,000 to the Bush campaign.

In addition, FEC records show Abraham received $8,500 dollars from Koch Industries for his failed Michigan Senate 2000 re-election campaign and another $5,000 in 1996. Abraham received another $1,000 for his 2000 campaign from David Koch.

…

Krumholz explained that when you combine the Koch Industry PAC with individual Koch family donations and other Koch subsidiaries, it reveals that Koch entities gave 88 percent of their total donations to the GOP and conservative causes and 12 percent to Democratic candidates and causes in the 2000 election.
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President Bush has announced his intention of filling up the SPR to its 700 million barrel capacity for the first time in U.S. history by 2005.

so part of the reason you’ve been paying all that money for fuel is because you’ve been competing with David Koch for it.

Is it any wonder that Vito Fossella is

well

let’s just say he’s either feeling the pressure or he looks darling in pink.

Harrison (who came damn close last time, when the Republicans still had some money to spend) has a campaign site here; his Act Blue page is here, in case you choose the candidates you support financially differently than Mssrs Cheney and Koch do; and the invaluable anti-Fossella blog NY-13 is here.

Do it for Vito. It’s clearly past his bedtime.