Yet another hypocrite revealed

New York has experienced a bumper crop of political scandals this season with former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's resignation after his trysts with a prostitute came to light, the revelations surrounding Gov. David Paterson's private life and the New York City Council slush fund scandal that threatened to derail openly lesbian Speaker Christine Quinn's mayoral aspirations. And married Staten Island Congressman Vito Fossella's DUI arrest earlier this month after he visited his daughter with another woman is the latest in this laundry list of indiscretions from our elected officials.

Fossella's transgressions, however, also add him to the long list of so-called family values politicians who emerge as nothing more than hypocrites. The Daily News reported yesterday he refuses to attend family gatherings if his lesbian sister Victoria and her partner are in attendance. Fossella also voted for the federal Marriage Protection Amendment. He supported a bill that would have banned funding for gay couples to adopt children. And Fossella also called upon the Department of Housing and Urban Development to withhold funding for San Francisco unless the city repealed its domestic partner benefits.

Fossella has clearly used gays and lesbians to enhance his reputation among those in Brooklyn and on Staten Island who voted him into office. But even he cannot live up to the narrow definition of family values he and other like-minded hypocrites continue to put forth in the name of political posturing. And he now finds himself laying in the bed he made for himself. Way to go Vito!