Vito Fossella arrested, must Resign

This afternoon at 1pm Vito Fossella will hold a press conference regarding his DWI arrest from early Thursday morning. Chances are he will not announce his resignation and instead with his family at his side apologize for making a bad decision and ask for forgiveness so that he can return to working for the people of his district.

Let me say I am preemptively outraged.

Vito Fossella was arrested early Thursday morning. Vito Fossella who represents his district in the hallowed halls of Congress, who has been given the ability to introduce and vote on legislation and laws has committed a crime. Many people like Guy Molinari are saying he has made a "mistake";

"He made a mistake that a lot of human beings make. And he has to learn from it. He'll pay the price by the publicity. It's sad."

Many of us make mistakes. But how many of us put the lives of so many at risk with those mistakes? We can not brush this off though drunk driving is some right of passage that we all do at one point or another and some sorrow and embarrassment is enough punishment. Vito Fossella was too impaired to know not to get behind the wheel of his car. Vito Fossella either ran into a sobriety check point or was driving in a somewhat reckless manner leading to his getting stopped. Vito Fossella was lead away from the scene of a crime in hand cuffs. Vito Fossella spent six hours detained in a police station sobering up. This is not a mistake, this is a crime. This is a crime with potential jail time;

S. Randolph Sengel, the commonwealth's attorney for Alexandria, said a first-offense of driving while intoxicated charge is a Class 1 misdemeanor that is punishable by a maximum of 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

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He also said that, depending on the blood-alcohol level, Virginia law calls for additional mandatory jail time. A blood-alcohol level between .15 and .20 has a minimum of five days in jail, while .20 and higher is a minimum of 10 days in jail.

Vito Fossella is going to call this an "error in judgment" and dance around the legality of the situation. An "error in judgment" is bringing Dick Cheney to town to help you fund raise. Drunk driving is a criminal act that risked the lives of everyone who was on the road with him. Let us not wait for there to be a tragedy to act and remove this man from office.