It’s been a rough few weeks for Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY), who’s facing some big questions based on New York Times investigations into allegations of shady (and possibly illegal) fundraising efforts and, more recently, questionable former business dealings.
The good news for Grimm: there’s a party on Saturday that supporters are portraying as an event to demonstrate support for the former FBI agent. The bad news: it doesn’t look like Grimm was even listed as a special guest on the original invite, which is actually being held to celebrate the opening of the new headquarters of the Staten Island Republican Party.
Capital New York reports that former Rep. Guy Molinari, a big Grimm backer, said the event will be “loaded with people who are going to be there to support Michael Grimm.”
The actual invitation, forwarded by the Grimm campaign to his supporters and obtained by TPM from a Democratic source, doesn’t mention Grimm as a guest and indicates the focus of the event is not to defend Grimm but celebrate their new location.
“Please join Party Chairman Robert Scamardella and the party’s executive committee in celebrating the opening of the party’s new 3,000 sq. foot headquarters,” reads an invitation.
Here’s the top of Grimm’s email, in which he asked supporters to help him “show how strong our party is as we begin moving closer to the pivotal 2012 elections, and as we begin expanding on our phenomenal work from 2010 to take back our country!”:
…and here’s the actual details of the event:
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
Facebook Conversations
Questions about commenting with non-Facebook accounts like Yahoo, or other concerns? Click here to read the TPM Commenting FAQ.