Before he fathered a lovechild with a Beltway mistress, Rep. Vito Fossella led a double life in law school, lying about his marriage while dating a fellow student, sources said. The future pol and Wharton School grad began a relationship with budding legal eagle Catherine Hoffman while the two were full-time students at Fordham Law School in the early '90s, according to sources.
The romance blossomed as the slick-haired Staten Islander wasn't wearing his wedding band and told Hoffman he was single, sources said.
In reality, Fossella had married his high school sweetheart, Mary Pat, on June 15, 1990, months before starting classes at the Midtown school.
"He said he was not married," said a source with close knowledge of the relationship.
Law students who graduated the same year as the couple in 1993 said the two were once inseparable and were often seen walking on campus together.
"People knew he was married. But if you didn't [know Mary Pat], you would think [Catherine] was his wife," a classmate said.
But the relationship went south during their third year of law school, sources said.
"Suddenly, in [his] third year, something big happened" with Vito and the Catherine, and they weren't seen together anymore, another source said.
Hoffman, 42, an insurance attorney, is now married and lives on a quiet, suburban street in Union, NJ. She declined to comment on the past relationship.
She isn't the only woman to have been duped by the randy Republican.
Revelations that the congressman had fathered a 3-year-old illegitimate child with retired Air Force Lt. Col. Laura Fay emerged after he was busted for DWI near his mistress's Alexandria, Va., home on May 1.
But Cheato Vito wasn't talking about his wife, Fay, or Hoffman yesterday as he marched in a Memorial Day parade just blocks from his family home in the Great Kills section.
"We're here to march in the parade to honor our nation's fallen," he repeatedly responded to a reporter peppering him with questions about his infidelities.
The scandal-scarred Fossella was generally well received at the parade. In between scarfing down hot dogs, he glad-handed and hugged well-wishers.
"He's a very good man that made a mistake," said Denise Endall, a longtime friend who embraced the pol. "I told him we're praying for him and his family."
Fossella's wife and three children were not by his side yesterday. The Staten Island Advance reported that information about his spouse and kids were deleted from his congressional Web site sometime between August 2007 and mid-February of this year.
The parade route wasn't completely pro-Fossella, though. A few detractors called his infidelities a disgrace and said he should resign.
Despite the intense media scrutiny, Fossella has defied mounting pressure to step down - or decide whether he's seeking re-election.
Island Republicans, fearing a voter backlash, are even mulling pulling Fossella's name off some "team petitions" in order to shield other GOP candidates from guilt by association with Cheato Vito.
"It's ugly on every level," said one GOP insider.
Additional reporting by Chuck Bennett, Lorena Mongelli, Jeane MacIntosh and Carl Campanile
