Thursday, May 22, 2008

The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct said it has formed a subcommittee to investigate Rep. Vito J. Fossella (R-N.Y.), who announced Tuesday that he will not run for reelection after being charged with drunken driving and after revelations of an extramarital affair with Laura Fay, a retired Air Force officer, and the 3-year-old daughter from that relationship.

The subcommittee appears to be tasked only with investigating Fossella's drunken-driving arrest in Alexandria, not the controversy surrounding Fossella's official trips taken with Fay, a former liaison officer for congressional delegations. The subcommittee will "defer action on its investigation" until the legal proceedings in the drunken-driving case have concluded.

Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) will head the subcommittee. Rep. J. Gresham Barrett (S.C.) will serve as the top Republican, and Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Rob Bishop (R-Utah) will also participate.

-- Ben Pershing