New York City

Dan Donovan’s brilliant press release

Rep. Dan Donovan’s airtight logic: Michael Grimm is a felon, so he must love Andrew Cuomo and hate Donald Trump

Dan Donovan

Dan Donovan Courtesy House of Representatives

In running for re-election, Republican Rep. Dan Donovan has scrupulously followed two rules: always side with President Donald Trump, and mention your opponent’s criminal history whenever possible. Donovan is facing an aggressive and intensely negative primary challenge by former Rep. Michael Grimm, who is best known for threatening to throw a reporter off a balcony and pleading guilty to federal tax fraud.

On Wednesday afternoon, Donovan’s campaign brilliantly combined its two prime directives by glomming on to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order reinstating voting rights for former felons who have ended their parole. Even though this is a state policy and members of Congress cannot vote on it, Donovan noted that it would have affected Grimm, who was unable to vote in 2016. Therefore, Donovan reasoned, Grimm is associated with Cuomo and, since Cuomo is an anti-Trump Democrat, Grimm is at odds with the president.

Donovan’s press release, titled “Liberal Cuomo throws convicted congressman a bone,” impressively implies that Grimm is insufficiently enthusiastic to Make American Great Again in the very first sentence:

“We know that Michael Grimm couldn't vote for President Trump after being released from prison on 20 counts of tax evasion, fraud, perjury, and more. But liberal Andrew Cuomo's new Executive Order granting parolees voting rights could have come in handy for the convicted felon. (State) Senate Republicans were smart enough to vote it down, but Andrew Cuomo, who is trying to appeal to national Democrats so he can run against President Trump, did a power grab to help out ex-cons like Grimm. … The question we have is: Does Michael Grimm agree with this liberal insanity from a potential opponent to President Trump?”

Donovan goes on to cite his law-and-order credentials as a former prosecutor and reinforce his opposition to Cuomo’s policy.

Grimm, who previously held the same Staten Island and southern Brooklyn seat, was a relatively moderate Republican when he served in Congress. National Journal found in its 2013 ranking that he occupied the ideological center of Congress, being tied for most liberal Republican in the House. But he has rebranded in his current run as a cross between Sean Hannity and, well, Sean Hannity.

Donovan’s voting record is similar: He is tied for 15th-least pro-Trump House Republican, according to the data analysis website FiveThirtyEight. Like Grimm, though, Donovan knows which way the wind is blowing in Republican primaries.

So the two have spent the campaign thus far trading accusations over who is more ardently pro-Trump and impugning each other’s ethics. Donovan has sought to bring Grimm’s criminal record into the conversation at every turn and has accused Grimm of filing a congressional ethics complaint suggesting that Donovan intervened in a drug prosecution on behalf of his girlfriend’s son. Grimm eagerly used the opportunity to “question how a felony distribution case magically turned into a misdemeanor.” (When later asked by NY1 about Donovan's allegation, Grimm denied it.) 

Not to be outdone in manufacturing irrelevant outrage, Grimm’s statement in response bizarrely begins with a screed about how his past crimes have been covered in the press: “The media’s hypocrisy on this has been nothing short of astounding. If a Democrat had been criminally prosecuted for something every other New York restaurant owner gets a civil fine for, journalists would be marching in the streets demanding justice.”

Grimm then goes on to claim that he is more closely allied with Trump. He also touts his military service in the Persian Gulf War – perhaps an off-message choice when tying himself to a someone who has offered conflicting accounts of how he avoided serving in the Vietnam War.

Besides a penchant for bashing the media and making empty threats of bodily harm, Grimm does share one other thing in common with Trump: He has adopted the practice of giving belittling nicknames to opposing candidates. The rest of his statement reads:

“All I’ll say is that I fought in battle to defend Dan Donovan’s right to support John Kasich for president and to then vote against every single one of President Trump’s major initiatives. It’s no shock that Desperate Dan has spent this whole race deflecting from his own incompetence and anti-Trump voting record by resorting to the Democrat smear tactics his allies are using against our President every day.”

Notably absent is any mention of where Grimm actually stands on the subject at hand or the substance, such as it is, of Donovan’s statement. In response to a query from City & State, Grimm’s campaign clarified that the candidate had his voting rights restored in 2017 after his probation ended and he does not agree with Cuomo’s move.

Politicians usually love to seem relatable by discussing policy through a personal anecdote, but Grimm seems curiously averse to discussing his own experience with felon disenfranchisement. He can rest assured, however, that he need not remind voters of his criminal history – Donovan will always do it for him.

Correction: This article originally stated that Grimm did not confirm or deny Donovan's allegation that he was behind the ethics complaint. 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.