How Soon Before The Michael Grimm Plea Bargain Deal Is Finished? The Crooked Campaign Manager Quit

Mercury Public Affairs is an all-in lobbying and campaign operative shop in DC, traditionally dealing with mainstream conservative Republicans but more recently reaching out to conservative Democrats from the Republican Wing of the Democratic Party. Widely considered among the sleaziest and least trustworthy political operations in DC, ideology is never as important as a relaxed attitude towards ethics and corruption. Connecticut right-wing political hack Bill Cortese is one of their operatives who goes out and helps their clients' campaigns. Cortese, fresh off a stint working for Chris Christie, probably the single most corrupt governor in America, went to work for the ostensibly most corrupt congressman, Staten Island Mafioso Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm. Last week, the rat deserting a sinking ship, Cortese quit as Grimm's campaign manager.

Interestingly, it wasn't the 20-count criminal indictment that had Mercury pill Cortese off the case, it was the formation of a special subcommittee of the House Ethics Committee to investigate the tangled web of Grimm's criminal career. The members of the subcommittee are Michael Conaway (R-TX), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Charlie Dent (R-PA) and Ted Deutsch (D-FL). [The FBI, nervous as always about the skeletons in its own closet that would be uncovered by a real Grimm investigation have already gotten the House to put the subcommittee on hold.] The NY Daily News' Dan Friedman reports that Cortese got pulled off the job because Grimm can't afford to pay his bills any longer and stopped paying him.

A person familiar with the decision said Bill Cortese-- the campaign’s only full-time employee-- made his exit after donors snapped their wallets shut when Grimm was indicted last month.

“He is not getting off the ballot and he is going to run a campaign with the D.C. money shut off, the Wall Street money shut off,” the person said. “There is no PAC money. He is going to have to cut costs and retool the campaign.

“Everything changed with indictment.”

…The National Republican Congressional Committee cut off financial and strategic support for Grimm after his indictment, and other big donors backed away due to his legal woes.

Grimm is expected to work out a plea bargain that includes a resignation from Congress and a relatively light prison sentence. Because Steve Israel was just caught organizing the same kind of caper for his sleazy New Dem candidates, there will be no investigation into the donor swapping activities between Grimm and Aaron Schock.