New York Rep. Vito Fossella declared Tuesday he would not seek to be re-elected and he would leave the House at the end of the 110th Congress, after his personal mistakes were revealed.

"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," Fossella said in a statement on his House of Representatives Web site.

Following a drunken driving arrest, Fossella admitted he had fathered a child in an extra-marital affair.

The issue of a possible love child was made public when Fossella was arrested on drunken driving charges last week in the Virginia suburbs of Washington. When Fossella was pulled over, he told police officers that he was going to visit his daughter who lived in the area. That made everyone wonder who the daughter was.

The congressman then was forced to admit he had had a relationship with Laura Fay, with whom he had a 3-year-old daughter. Fossella, who won his House seat in 1997, after Rep. Susan Molinari resigned, apologized to his dear ones, saying he deeply regretted his personal imperfections and failings.

"Despite the personal mistakes I have made, I am touched by the outpouring of support and encouragement I have received from so many people," Fossella said in the statement released on the website.

He said that, although many people encouraged him to seek re-election, he did not consider that appropriate, given the situation, as he now wanted to concentrate on mending his family life.