Chamber of Commerce Favorite Indicted
As was reported last December, the Chamber of Commerce has pledged $50 billion to protect us from that awful Tea Party:
On Christmas Day, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it plans to spend at least $50 million to “support establishment, business-friendly candidates in primaries and the general election, with an aim of trying to win a Republican Senate majority.”
“Our No. 1 focus is to make sure, when it comes to the Senate, that we have no loser candidates,” said U.S. Chamber of Commerce top political strategist Scott Reed. “That will be our mantra: No fools on our ticket.”
GOP establishment officials hope to elide Tea Party challenges by shrinking the nomination process down to a tight four-month window replete with penalties for states that shirk the rules.
What does that kind of thinking lead to? Why, it leads to Congressman who have 100% ratings from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Right? Folks like Michael Grimm, Republican from Staten Island, NY. His 100% rating can be viewed here. Grimm received the Chamber’s full backing in 2012.
Victory is ours! Oh, except there is one little hitch.
Namely, Grimm just got indicted for multiple counts of fraud and tax evasion. Roll Call says there is not much that Republicans can do about the fact that they are now running someone who has been indicted:
Grimm will be on the general-election ballot unless one of three unlikely events takes place, according to a New York Republican source. He has already been designated by the state party as its nominee, so the only way he can be removed is by moving out of the district, running for a judgeship or being convicted before the general, the source said.
Yay Chamber!
P.S. What’s personally ironic about all this to me is that cretin Neal Rauhauser, associate of Brett Kimberlin and general creep, engaged in a multi-year campaign to discredit me — and made it a centerpiece of his fabrications that I was somehow tied up with the Chamber of Commerce and Michael Grimm. Here I am, espousing positions consistent with (and sometimes more extreme than) those of the Tea Party, day after day, and this weirdo says I have some connection to the group opposing the Tea Party (and supporting a Congressman who threatened to throw a reporter off a balcony).
Oh, Neal. Is there no lie so brazen that you won’t tell it? And that stooges Karoli Kuns and Matthew “Shoq” Edelstein won’t fall for it?
Thanks to a tipster.
Staten Island lol
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/20/2014 @ 2:01 pm“Establishment Candidates”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…. idiots.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 5/20/2014 @ 2:05 pmthe thing though is these indictments come from America’s corrupt and fascist department of “justice”
one shouldn’t take them too seriously, and even if there’s any substance to it, there’s something rather heroic about evading taxes one might owe to a corrupt and fascist enterprise like the federal government of failmerica
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/20/2014 @ 2:18 pmAs was reported last December, the Chamber of Commerce has pledged $50 billion to protect us from that awful Tea Party:
Guessing you meant $50 million
$50 billion is a lot of lettuce
FLBuckeye (dce950) — 5/20/2014 @ 2:34 pmThe lesson here once again, and it’s an important one, is that we just cannot trust politicians. We can’t know in advance what they’ll do or say when they get a microphone and some power and influence, or know what they’ll lie about to get elected and then turn around and do the opposite, or guess the lengths they’ll go to personally enrich themselves. People do not go into politics anymore to “serve the public”. It seems that truly normal people do not even consider entering politics anymore–they know it’s just too dirty because of all the money floating around. Too many others unfortunately enter politics because there’s so much opportunity and money floating around. I don’t care what candidate you pin your hopes on– Ds or Rs–establishment or tea party –there are no guarantees that any of us “know” them. People fool themselves to think they do.
elissa (e67fb7) — 5/20/2014 @ 2:47 pmGrimm is an odd duck. His FBI career was pretty ugly, but he ingratiated himself with the Staten Island GOP and it’s boss Guy Molinari. Grimm rode the Tea Party wave into office since there is a solid coservative base on Staten Island (which is the bulk of the district spare a slivler of Brooklyn). And then got to DC and became an immediate vote for what ever Boenhner wanted and ignored all his TP promises. He did support legislation for Sandy victims(and frankly the way the government has screwed us at every level has ben an abject lesson in the futility of liberal governance) but has done little else to distinguish himself.Unless banging women in bar bathrooms counts. It’s a fair bet if he doesn’t drop out soon this will be a net pick up for the Dems. Which is sad because Staten Island is reliably conservative, and this should be a solid GOP seat otherwise. Grimm’s ego will take care of that.
Bugg (f0dbc7) — 5/20/2014 @ 2:54 pmA former FBI agent and a big, big fan.
gary gulrud (46ca75) — 5/20/2014 @ 2:59 pmBugg did you see the three options for getting rid of him before the election that were listed above? Unfortunately, “dropping out” is not one of them unless he actually moves.
elissa (e67fb7) — 5/20/2014 @ 3:22 pmmeanwhile, down in Mississippi, we have another goat rope, including apparent NRSC involvement
http://legalinsurrection.com/2014/05/what-is-going-on-in-mississippi-republican-senate-primary/
makes you wonder why anyone bothers to vote, don’t it?
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 5/20/2014 @ 3:27 pmThis is exactly what some of us figured what would happen when the indictments against some democrats came down a few weeks/months ago (like Yee here in CA). I remember telling a few people I know that they probably had some republican pols they had their sights on too, but they’d wait until it was too late to put a new candidate on the ballot.
Lo and behold.. here’s the first one!
Miguelitosd (d13001) — 5/20/2014 @ 4:02 pm3. Comment by happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/20/2014 @ 2:18 pm
the thing though is these indictments come from America’s corrupt and fascist department of “justice”
The investigation started about campaign finance, which perhaps might have impacted other people and led to bigger things, but now it’s all about
this restaurant Michael Grimm was involved with, where he was quite actively involved in the management.
It kept quite detailed two sets of books and paid workers, and sometimes didn’t pay them, under the table, and Michael Grimm is accused of actually handing out cash.
His partner was connected with organized crime.
Michael Grimm was noted for infiltrating the Mafia while he was in the FBI, and one time, his cover almost got blown when somebody recognized him.
Sammy Finkelman (8e96a4) — 5/20/2014 @ 4:11 pmSammy-
Drimm retired from the FBI without a vested pension despite also serving in the military, so he had a bucnh of pensionable service time he waived. Seems he jumped for the military toi the FBI and to politics in avery rapid and unusual time frame. Simply giving up that pensionable time is unheard of in federal nor law enforcement, nor any government service. One exception-the agency gives you the option to leave instead of going through the procedure to fire you and making your work screwup a matter of public record;againsomething they will not dsicuss. Not clear what happened here, but it’s very strange. The whole “I was undercover” thing is also something of a red flag. Not something people in that line of work brag about, and suspect the FBI doesn’t comment on such things. Only thing we do know is Grimm jeopardized his FBI career by getting into a bar fight with a cop over the cop’s wife. And any pol that threatens to throw a reporter off balcony as Grimm did is a goddamn idiot.
Bugg (f0dbc7) — 5/20/2014 @ 4:53 pmIf he were a New Jersey Democrat, replacing him on the ballot wouldn’t be a problem. But he isn’t and there’s just no way the state of New York can change things now that it’s a mere 5 1/2 months before the election.
Kevin M (b357ee) — 5/20/2014 @ 5:53 pmThose laws only work in one direction, Kevin. Duh.
JD (e12cf2) — 5/20/2014 @ 6:02 pmU.S. Chamber of Commerce top political strategist Scott Reed. “That will be our mantra: No fools on our ticket.”
Well now, how about the time the GOP establishment put Dede Scozzafava on the Republican Party ticket, remember her? They refused to support a TEA Party candidate and made sure Dede got the nod. Newt Gingrich even endorsed Dede.
Then, when she lost Dede switched to the Democrat Party. So, was Dede the fool, or was it the GOP establishment, or was in Newt, or was it Republicans who followed their party’s leaders?
ropelight (cdcf26) — 5/20/2014 @ 6:02 pmwhat America’s corrupt Justice Department did to Ted Stevens should always be top of mind in conversations like this
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/20/2014 @ 6:05 pmComment by Bugg (f0dbc7) — 5/20/2014 @ 4:53 pm
The whole “I was undercover” thing is also something of a red flag. Not something people in that line of work brag about, and suspect the FBI doesn’t comment on such things.
And he was not the first FBI agent to infiltrate Wall Street, like he claimed.
Only thing we do know is Grimm jeopardized his FBI career by getting into a bar fight with a cop over the cop’s wife.
No, the off-duty cop (moonlighting without permission) stopped him from fighting with the husband of the woman he was with – twice – the second time after Grimm had pulled a gun on the man – and testified against him.
The first time Grimm thanked him, the second time Grimm explained he was an FBI agent and nobody was going to threaten him. Until the cop working at the nightclub approached him he had threatened or noted he could kill the man, and even the first time he had quietly told the cop after being separated that the man didn’t know whom he was dealing with and he swore he’d make him disappear where nobody will find him. The fierst incident was just after midnight, after which everyone involved left the club and the second was around 2:30 am. Grimm left the club after each incident.
Grimm later returned at 4 a.m., shortly before the bar was supposed to close, with another FBI agent and several New York City police officers, held everybody, and then only everybody who wasn’t white, in the bar, asking them to go up against the wall, saying the FBI is in charge, and tried to get the estranged husband and his friends arrested for assault (which hadn’t happened)
But he wasn’t there.
He accused the original NYPD cop of interfering with a federal investigation.
New Yorker magazine article and followup (after his first election to Congress)
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/02/110502fa_fact_ratliff?currentPage=all
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/04/congressman-michael-grimm-at-the-caribbean-tropics.html
There’s a problem with informants, in which it wasn’t just Michael Grimm who was involved, and there was this incident in a nightclub where Grimm tried to pull rank and acted very improperly, and was later sued for slander when he accused an off-duty cop of having interfered with a federal investigation. Grimm hired a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s office as his lawyer.
Grimm in 2011 told a totally different story than numerous witnesses and even contradicted court documents.
The suit was eventually dismissed on jurisdictional grounds but not before witnesses were intimidated and an N.Y.P.D. union lawyer told the plaintiff that he should consider his employment future were he to pursue the lawsuit.
Sammy Finkelman (7e7e58) — 5/20/2014 @ 6:51 pm12. Wikipedia has this on his retirement:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Grimm_(politician)
Footnote 14 goes to the Staten Island Advance of July 7, 2010:
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/gulf_war_vet_former_fbi_agent.html
This says he was halfway toward a pension.
Sammy Finkelman (7e7e58) — 5/20/2014 @ 7:12 pmComment by Bugg (f0dbc7) — 5/20/2014 @ 4:53 pm
And any pol that threatens to throw a reporter off balcony as Grimm did is a goddamn idiot.
Not an idiot, merely a sociopath who may have miscalculated a little bit. If he actually conmtemplated throwing the reporter off the balcony, then he’d be an idiot, but he was lying. It was very calculated. He returned back to the reporter to deliver the threat.
Sammy Finkelman (7e7e58) — 5/20/2014 @ 7:14 pmHere is an account of the original investigation of Michael Grimm (before they went for the easy case of tax fraud etc)
http://www.citizensforethics.org/pages/representative-michael-grimm-new-york
Grimm is also connected to the same peculiar Rabbi and his followers as Anthony Weiner, except that Anthony Weiner apparently saw that Rabbi for spiritual counseling. Weiner and Grimm apparently saw something of each other there.
Anthony Weiner may have started the FBI investigation of Michael Grimm in October, 2010.
(Weiner campaign donors may have told him they were almost being forced to contribute to Michael Grimm, and/or being asked for too much, if I understand and remember this correctly.)
Weiner (humorous?) open letter/op-ed to Michael Grimm January 30, 2014 after he’d threatened that reporter:
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/reporters-article-1.1595814
Sammy Finkelman (7e7e58) — 5/20/2014 @ 7:28 pmA New York restaurant a dirty business with ties to the mafia?
No Way. Unprecedented. Unheard of. Unpossible.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 5/20/2014 @ 7:38 pmWould a promise to throw reporters off balconies be a losing campaign platform?
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