Vito Fossella shows us his leadership

In a Letter to the Editor exchange, Craig Donnor, Vito Fossella's spokesperson writes into the Advance in response to George Rosquist's Letter to the Editor asking where Fossella has been in the Staten Island hospital crisis. Craig manages to unintentionally make this very amusing for us and bad for his boss.

George Rosquist is right to be concerned about the closing of three Richmond University Medical Center clinics (Your Opinion, March 25). There's no dispute that Staten Island's health-care system faces innumerable challenges, which have put us on the verge of crisis.

It is always nice when Vito Fossella's own spokesperson agrees with concerned constituents. The best part of his rebuttle though is this comment from Craig and the editorial footnote following;

However, he is wrong to suggest that Rep. Vito Fossella has done "nothing" to fix the problem. Most recently, Congressman Fossella took the lead in urging Staten Island University Hospital to take over those three clinics -- an initiative the hospital is actively pursuing.

[Editor's note: Since this letter was written, Staten Island University Hospital announced that it will not take over the RUMC clinics in Clifton.]

Let's have Craig Donnor wrap this up for us reiterating a question Mr. Rosquist asked;

To answer Mr. Rosquist's question, "Where is Rep. Fossella for his constituents in this crisis?," I'd say the facts show he's exactly where he should be -- fighting hard for the people of Staten Island.

Congratulations Vito Fossella. We already knew Fossella has very little clout in DC, now he shows us he has none at home in the district either. I recommend he has his campaign staff spend more time working to negotiate with Staten Island University Hospital instead of writing letters like this one by Craig attacking his critics. And if that isn't possible and if all of this is any indication of what his leadership can do maybe he should stop "taking the lead."