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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Cuomo Heeds Warning to Replace Ex-Rep. Grimm

BROOKLYN (CN) - The call for a special election to fill Michael Grimm's former seat in Congress is imminent, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.

Cuomo's single-page letter filed with court, promising to call for an election by Friday comes on the heels of a Tuesday warning issued by U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein: that if Cuomo missed the Friday deadline, Weinstein would do make the call for him.

The governor is still playing coy about when he'll make the announcement, saying only that it will come before the hearing in the case scheduled for noon Friday.

Weinstein's ultimatum came a little more than a week after eight voters from Grimm's congressional district sued the governor on behalf of the 750,000 residents in Staten Island and the southern tip of Brooklyn who were being disenfranchised.

Grimm, a former FBI agent and Marine, is awaiting sentencing July 8 after copping guilty to a tax-evasion charge for underreporting earnings and hiring illegal immigrants at a health food restaurant, Healthalicious, in Manhattan between 2007 and 2010.

After calling the special election, New York will then have no more than 80 days to hold a run-off to fill the vacancy.

Grimm, 44, faced 20 counts of tax fraud. He denied the charges at first, and managed to keep his seat during his re-election bid in December. He at first promised he'd keep his seat, too, but gave it up after his conviction.

Local tabloids were all over Grimm in January 2014 when he was caught on camera threatening to throw a reporter off a balcony.

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