Not a very surprising development:
Michael G. Grimm, the Republican Party’s lone congressional representative in New York City, announced late Monday night that he would resign effective Jan. 5, two weeks after he pleaded guilty to felony tax evasion.
The decision to call it quits by Mr. Grimm, of Staten Island — perhaps best known for threatening to break a reporter in half and throw him off a Capitol Hill balcony — came after a conversation on Monday with the House speaker, John A. Boehner, which a person close to the speaker confirmed. In a statement released by Mr. Grimm’s office just before midnight, he said, “I do not believe that I can continue to be 100 percent 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.”
Mr. Boehner appears to have done what a midterm election, constant ridicule in the news media and a guilty plea in federal court in Brooklyn could not: persuade Mr. Grimm to go away.
I’m not sure how much convincing Boehner had to do, because Grimm is about to face a judge and plead for his freedom, and it is kind of hard to go before a judge and pretend to be contrite while being a macho asshole for everyone else declaring that even God himself won’t make you resign. Again, IANAL, but I would think that his defense team explained to him that this was an either/or proposition- you can keep your freedom, or you can keep your seat, but the odds of you keeping both are pretty slim.
At any rate, Staten Island, which is basically NYC’s version of Alabama, will no doubt vote in another sociopath who will vote against their interest.