Fossella dealt major committee and donor loses

Following on the heels of yesterday's DCCC announcement that they are targeting Rep. Vito Fossella as one of six ethically challenged House members, today the news comes that Fossella has lost his seat on the House Financial Services Committee.

While we earlier petitioned that Fossella leave that committee and petition to become a member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs to better serve his community and protect our veterans interests, this turn out nonetheless is a welcome sign.

The implications of this committee change should definitely now pose a major threat to his re-election bid. As we covered earlier in our posing the suggestion that he be removed from the Financial Services Committee, some of his largest donors come from sectors that benefited from his service and potential limitation of oversight.

Financial Services oversees the banking, insurance, real estate and securities industries, which are critical to New York's Wall Street-driven economy and which employ numerous Island residents. (via the SI Advance)

The side benefit, and reason for suggesting these moves is that Rep. Fossella receives large amounts of financial support from the industries that benefit from limited oversight by these two committees; financial institutions and real estate/housing. Fossella's largest sector donations come from the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate sector, a total of nearly $1.5 million in donations and influence, $358,790 of that just in the last election cycle.

2004-06 Donors (via Opensecrets.org)
1. Securities & Investment: $109,500
3. Real Estate: $86,050
4. Insurance: $60,250
5. Health Professionals: $52,700
7. Accountants: $37,400
9. Commercial Banks: $33,790

A Democratic congressional aide in Washington said that Fossella's "sphere of influence" would now be more limited, but an Island Republican official said that borough residents would be little affected by the change. (via the SI Advance)

Little did I realize how accurate my later update to that post would become;

This is actually something I should keep a closer watch on. Should Fossella get moved from one of his committees he served on last term (04-06) consider that a good sign that this seat is on the DCCC's list in 08 and that they are going to start the race early.