Alcohol Lobbyists one of Fossella's largest donors

In light of Fossella's arrest last night for DWI/DUI I was reminded of his contributions he has received from alcohol interests. If you check out opensecrets.org's "top contributor" break down of Fossella's contributions during his time in Congress you will see that #8 on that list is the National Beer Wholesalers Association. They have contributed $44,000 to his re-election efforts. During the last election cycle Fossella was the fifth highest Congressional recipient of contributions from them. This does not include individual PACs like Anheuser-Busch who just this cycle have given $1,000 who along with Heineken gave even more last cycle.

The question that lingers is what are these groups hoping to achieve by financing Vito Fossella's campaigns? It is hard to imagine that they are interested in education or health insurance. Maybe they are hoping they have Fossella's ear on situations like this;

The liquor, beer wholesaler and restaurant industries are waging a well-financed campaign in the House to defeat a measure backed by the White House and traffic safety groups to impose tougher anti-drunken driving laws throughout the country.

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Roughly 40 percent of all highway fatalities are alcohol-related crashes. Although outward appearances vary, virtually all drivers are substantially impaired at 0.08 with regard to critical driving tasks such as braking, steering, changing lanes and general judgment, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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But proponents including Reps. Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.), Charles T. Canady (R-Fla.) and Castle say there is compelling evidence that the tougher standards do work and that the liquor and restaurant industries are putting their concerns about profits ahead of saving lives. More than 17,000 Americans were killed last year by drunken drivers and 3,700 of those were killed by crashes involving blood alcohol levels below 0.10. If every state adopted the 0.08 blood-alcohol standards, an estimated 500 to 600 lives could be saved every year, according to the National Safety Council.

Vito Fossella must return all the money he has taken from these organizations and pledge now to never again take money from alcohol lobbyists.