Fossella represented Staten Island, as well as a band of south Brooklyn including Bensonhurst, Gravesend, and Bay Ridge, as New York City's only Republican congressman from 1997 until 2009.

A Staten Island native, Fossella attended Wharton and Fordham Law School. A protégé of Michael J. Petrides, a political strategist in Staten Island, the pragmatic Fossella became the first Republican in his family and joined the re-election campaigns for Congresswoman Susan Molinari and Mayor Rudy Giuliani. His own career in politics began when he was elected to the New York City Council and eventually ran for and won the Congressional seat being vacated by Molinari in 1997. During his decade in Congress, Fossella sat on the energy and commerce committee and flexed his conservative voting muscles, earning a staggering 83 lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union. However, he crossed the aisle for some noteworthy issues, including joining then-Senator Hillary Clinton to help raise awareness of the health issues associated with 9/11. Yet Fossella left his spot with a less than sterling reputation: in 2005 the media discovered that he used campaign funds for high-end meals and luxury resorts, and in 2008 he was arrested for a DUI in Virginia and it subsequently came to light that he had an affair with a former Air Force member that resulted in a three year old child. Although he did not resign outright, he decided not to run for re-election and has since faded from the public eye. [Image via Getty]