The media is implying that Boehner pushed Grimm into resigning. It may be true; we'll probably never know for sure since Grimm's resignation from Congress well may have been part of a plea deal with the Feds to keep him from getting a long, long prison term. Forcing elected officials out of office-- even organized crime figures like Grimm-- isn't something that gets talked about publicly in America. "After much thought and prayer, I have made the very difficult decision to step down from Congress effective Jan. 5," Grimm said in a statment Monday evening. "This decision is made with a heavy heart, as I have enjoyed a very special relationship and closeness with my constituents, whom I care about deeply... I do not believe that I can continue to be 100% effective in the next Congress, and therefore, out of respect for the office and the people I so proudly represent, it is time for me to start the next chapter of my life." Despite his criminal activities and 20 indictments, Grimm won reelection last month in an extremely low turn-out election over a typical, hapless and incompetent Steve Israel recruit, Dominic Recchia, 58,886 (53.88%) to 45,244 (40.24%). He'll be sentenced June 8 and will likely get a slap on the wrist... after the resignation. No one expects any of the far more serious charges against him-- charges that would have implicated other FBI officials and foreign leaders-- to be pursued. Michael Grimm, by then already a Republican congressman, first came to the attention of the superficial Beltway media when he threatened to push a reporter off a Capitol balcony and "break him in half like a boy." Very dramatic but a symptom of something that had been festering with the Congressman from the Gambino Crime Family that they willfully ignored. More discerning, first-hand reporters, particularly at the NY Times have been on the Grimm trail for many years-- as has DWT. We first picked up on him as a dapper but violent Mafia thug involved in the transfer of a $400,000 bribe from GOP serial criminal Tom Kontogiannis-- currently serving life in prison-- to George W. Bush via GOP Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham-- currently out of prison and living in a guarded gated community in Arkansas. Blake Zeff, writing for Salon, was one of the few reporters bothering to peek behind the curtain, looking at how Grimm used pathetic Staten Island Republican voters in a final con game as he headed for the exit. He takes his readers inside the shady last ploy and snow job for a look at how his resignation shows he was lying to voters as part of a bargain for a lighter sentence. Grimm knew the Feds had the goods on him and that they could put him away for as much as 20 years. He's 44 now. Unless Paul Ryan wrecks it totally, he'd be ready to start collecting Social Security when he got out.
For all of 2014, he strutted across his district conveying the confidence of an artful blackjack dealer. Sure there were charges against him, he said, but they were trumped up, he was the victim of a liberal witch hunt, his political opponents were after him precisely because he was such an awesome Republican. You get the idea. Of course, we now know all this to be nothing but a crock of bad cologne. Not just because of the details of the case just mentioned-- but because of the guilty plea Grimm copped to in recent days (mere weeks after the campaign ended), and the resignation he just tendered around midnight as Monday bled into Tuesday. The congressman was clearly never going to serve out his term, nor would he take his case to trial, as he had assured voters. But he had a very good reason to convince voters otherwise. If you’re headed to prison but want to cop a deal with the feds, you need a chip you can bargain in exchange for a lighter sentence. And for a politician, there are few chips more valuable than a seat you can resign. If Grimm lost his race last November, he’d have been a disgraced former congressman with no seat to give up and, likely, real prison time. If he won, he’d have the golden House seat to drop in exchange for-- he hoped-- leniency... Grimm ran like the dickens for reelection to get that bargaining chip. No local candidate forum was too small, no ribbon-cutting was too insignificant. And it worked. With the help of a GOP wave, a personal connection to his district and an incompetent Democratic opponent-- whose most memorable debate answer was the inability to name a book he’d read-- Grimm cruised to a double-digit landslide. Which means that, unbeknownst to them, Staten Island voters were legal accomplices in Grimm’s strategy to spend less time in prison. He may have told them he was innocent of the charges (which he now admits is false), that he would take his case to trial (which he did not do), and that he intended to serve his term (which he did not)-- but it all ended up being a lie to help his personal legal situation. It’s a bizarre commentary on our justice system that a felonious politician’s popularity, or ability to win a political race, could actually help shave time off his prison sentence. But this is the gamble Grimm is making, and there’s plenty of precedent suggesting it could work. Still, we won’t know the full outcome until his sentence is handed down, an announcement recently scheduled for June. Grimm’s crime (while he pled to one count, the other 19 will likely be dropped) could fetch up to three years in prison; his team is said to be seeking probation. Meanwhile, though the voters of Staten Island were used by the congressman, they may ultimately end up better off this way. Rather than wind up with the criminal or the Democratic buffoon he defeated, they’ll now have a fresh new slate of candidates from which to choose, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo will call a special election to fill the seat.
Better off? I don't think so. Neither party is likely to run a halfway decent candidate. Both benches are absolutely execrable-- if not excrement. Sunday night John Catsimatidis, the billionaire Republican owner of Manhattan largest grocery chain, Gristedes-- who hosts a talk radio show on WNYM, ran for NYC mayor as a Republican and is a devoted long-time Clinton Machine cog-- was demanding that Grimm resign to make way for former Congressman Vito Fossella, a piece of right-wing garbage who held the seat until he was discovered with two families, one on Staten Island and one in Virginia. [Update: not happening.] Catsimatidis who ran as a strict pro-cop, "law-and-order" candidate, didn't win the GOP primary-- except in one borough: Staten Island, where he was backed by Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis and State Senator Andrew Lanza, each of whom would like to succeed Grimm. But the Beltway GOP Establishment is looking beyond Fossella, Malliotakis and Lanza and trying to anoint the D.A. behind the racial turmoil in New York, Daniel Donovan, the D.A. who failed to secure an indictment in the Eric Garner case-- something that makes him popular with Staten Island white racists (the GOP base in the borough). He is already being touted as the front runner and Republicans aren't waiting for Grimm's formal January 5th resignation to start backing him. Borough President James Oddo, Assemblyman Joseph Borelli and Council members Vincent Ignizio and Steven Matteo have already announced they're on board. Ignazio on Twitter: “Dan Donovan is the most competent & qualified candidate we could ask for, and I am actively encouraging him to run for Congress.” The DCCC's first bad choice was Blue Dog Mike McMahon, who Grimm beat to win the seat in 2010. McMahon claims that Obama is so hated by white voters on Staten Island-- an inordinate number of whom are addicted to Hate Talk Radio-- that no Democrat could win a special election against Donovan. He likes being courted but he's told intimates he's not running. The backup plan is Assemblyman Mike Cusick, who calls himself a "conservative Democrat" but has a decent progressive record except on Choice. He's anti-Choice. It's 2014. He's in the wrong party. But that's what Steve Israel and Chuck Schumer are urging on novice DCCC chair Ben Ray Luján. Aside from the problem with Choice, Cusick has a pretty good record on the solid economic issues that should be what the election is fought over. Cusick doesn't have to give up his Assembly seat-- which he was just reelected to with 60% of the vote (and Oddo's endorsement)-- to run for Congress. But the GOP will be determined to fight the election on De Blasio and Eric Garner and backing the police. Donovan's failure in the Garner case makes him a hero to the same kind of people who defiantly stood with their Mafia congressman last month.Don't believe the hype
