"I believe this course of action is best for my family and our community," said Fossella in a statement posted Tuesday morning on his web site.

What doomed Fossella was not so much his DWI, but what unraveled from that, as he acknowledged having an affair with another woman and that they had a 3-year old child as a product of that affair.

GOP leaders in the Congress had made clear they didn't want Fossella on the ballot in November.  Some even hinted that Fossella should just leave now and resign.  He opted to keep getting his paycheck until January 3 of next year.

"This choice was an extremely difficult one, balanced between my dedication to service to our great nation and the need to concentrate on healing the wounds that I have caused to my wife and family," the Fossella statement read.

Fossella had been talked about as a possible candidate for Mayor of New York City, but that all went out the window in recent weeks.

He is the only Republican Congressman from the Big Apple, one reason that GOP leaders wanted him out, so they could re-tool and find a replacement who might keep the seat in November.

Just a few years ago, top Republicans might have let Fossella stay on, but after enduring several high profile cases where lawmakers professed their innocence and then later went to prison, GOP leaders have adopted a zero-tolerance stance on ethical misdeeds.

Democrats say they have a chance to pick up Fossella's Staten Island district, something the GOP disputes, but Republicans will have to work hard now to keep the seat in November, a seat no one would have worried about if not for the Congressman's extracurricular activites.