Today, Congressman Michael Grimm, he of the felony tax evasion conviction and the threat to throw NY1-TV political reporter Michael Scotto “off a balcony” for questioning him about a campaign finance investigation, actually agreed to resign from Congress. I guess a conversation with House Speaker John Boehner “encouraged” the Congressman to make the right decision.

Former Congressman Michael Grimm

But my question is, whatsa matter with Staten Island? A scant 55 days ago this guy was re-elected despite the fact that he had already been indicted on these charges. And that there was an active federal investigation of his fundraising and campaign finance practices. And still this guy beat his Democratic rival, Domenic M. Recchia, Jr., a former City Council member, by almost 12,000 votes. What’s going on in our country that criminal conviction (or the imminent threat of it) doesn’t seem to discourage the average voter from thinking that maybe, just maybe, the guy might be disqualified. See Buddy Cianci or Marion Barry if you don’t know what I’m talking about.