Why Michael Grimm Shouldn't Resign

Congressman Michael Grimm (R-NY), the lone GOP representative in the New York City area (Staten Island) has announced that he will resign effective Jan. 5, two weeks after he pleaded guilty to felony tax evasion.

What Grimm actually did was to under-report his employees’ wages while he was owner of the Manhattan restaurant Healthalicious.

Grimm’s decision was apparently made after a conversation with Speaker John Boehner.

I think this was a huge mistake on Grimm’s part.Instead of caving, he should have looked Boehner in the eye and told him, ‘I’ll resign right after Charlie Rangel does.’

Why should he disenfranchise his constituents or be held to a higher standard than Charlie Rangel?

Tax evasion is a crime, no doubt. But if you compare what Michael Grimm did to what Charlie Rangel got away with, Rep. Grimm would have been far better off not pleading guilty and taking his chances with the House.

If nothing else, that would have pointed out, yet again, that Democrats, particularly black Democrats are held to far different standards than Republicans by their peers and especially by the media.