US Rep. Michael Grimm
Now, I’m not suggesting that all restaurateurs are crooks, anymore than I’m suggesting that all Republicans are. But, you know…
Representative Michael G. Grimm, a second-term congressman from Staten Island, was indicted Monday on federal fraud charges for underreporting the wages and payroll while running an Upper East Side restaurant, concealing the actual payroll in a separate set of computer records.
The charges, unsealed Monday, detail how Mr. Grimm concealed more than $1 million in gross receipts for the restaurant, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in employee wages, thus getting around federal and New York State law. He also lied under oath in January 2013, while he was a member of Congress, during a deposition, the indictment says.
The indictment charges Mr. Grimm with, among other things, perjury, wire fraud, mail fraud, obstruction of justice, employment of illegal immigrants, obstructing and impeding tax laws, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
[…] The concealment, perjury and obstruction of justice charges come in connection with a January 2013 deposition given by Mr. Grimm as part of a lawsuit by two former Healthalicious employees who alleged that Mr. Grimm was not paying them minimum wage or overtime.
Grimm is more than just a congressman, actually. He’s also a former US Marine and FBI agent. So “Semper Fidelus” and “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity,” and all that. (Not sure what the motto of the restaurant industry is, but I doubt it emphasizes fidelity in any language.)
The point is,* if we build a minimum wage law that not only facilitates wage and tip theft, but incentivizes it, then some businesses owners will surely exploit it to cheat their workers.
* (Also, given the prevalence of accounting shenanigans, I don’t trust restaurateurs pleas of poverty. I just don’t.)
Another “small government, low tax job creatin'” teabagger whose only real concern is only to himself. TeaBaggers want smaller Government for the same reasons that rapists, robbers and murderers want fewer Police on the streets. He’s on the House Financial Services committee, meaning he’s one of the folks in Congress doing whatever they can to obstruct justice when it comes to the Banks and money launderers in the New York Stock Exchange.
So because some d-bag congressman has been accused of some crime it means that not only is he guilty before the verdict, but so are a larger portion of those in the same industry? That’s pretty pathetic hyperbole for a headline Goldy, and hard to take any subsequent points seriously.
re 2: “So because some d-bag congressman has been accused of some crime it means that not only is he guilty before the verdict ….”
Why not? Let’s water-board him until he confesses his guilt and implicates all of the other restaurateurs. There’s no other way to get that kind of intelligence.
Kidding @ 2,
Pathetic comment.
There is a long tradition in journalism (and blogging) of sensational headlines.
Goldy’s post does not say that Grimm is guilty.
The real point of the post has little to do with Grimm. It’s about minimum wage laws.
So Goldy still hasn’t found a job making three times what the Stranger paid him as he boasted? No, just collecting unemployment (did you get laid off, or is it just fraud?) and whining like a little bitch.
@4 Darryl,
I would say the point of the article is to smear restaurateurs because it is convenient for Goldy to do so when framed by the minimum wage debate. Look at his opening sentence, “Now, I’m not suggesting that all restaurateurs are crooks………..”. Or look at his last line, “* (Also, given the prevalence of accounting shenanigans, I don’t trust restaurateurs pleas of poverty. I just don’t.)”
In both his opening & closing Goldy is implying dishonesty & thievery to the majority of restaurant owners based on his political ideology. This is a common response from $15NOW whenever people from business present facts that don’t agree with their narrative. The flip side of this coin is when those against the $15 minimum wage imply that those making less than $15 are doing so because they are lazy, and unmotivated. Both sides are not to be taken very seriously when they disparage large groups of people with such a broad brush.
re 5: Thanks for shedding some light on Rep. Grimm’s actions.
I don’t believe that the average tipped employee is working anywhere close to 40 hours a week, which is part of why all those reported annual income figures seem so absurdly low. Many tipped employees make mad bank at the restaurant.
re 6: I would say that the point of Goldy’s post is to not only impugn the honesty of some restaurateurs, but also Republicans in general.
If it’s a Republican restaurateur, there is a 99.9% chance (according to a study by Bob Jones University sociologist Emil Durkheim)that the individual in question is a crook and, worse, a corporate lawyer.
When I tip (and I regularly do tip around 20% unless the service sucks) I intend for the money to go to the servers and other wage slave staff. Not the management and certainly not the owners.
If the management and owners want to take all or part of the tips then tell me so I can act accordingly. And that will probably be not to tip at all.
from kidding @6:
The point, which may well not be sharp enough to penetrate kidding’s thick cranium, is that if we make an exception to wage law for the benefit of wage payers which incentivizes theft, then it should come as no surprise that wage payers might decide to steal from workers.
Bonus point is that a sitting Republican Congressman, who is all about Freeeeee Markets! and gubment over reach allegedly committed the type of theft we’re discussing.
#2 Republican Congressman Grimm is accused of concealing more than $1million in receipts, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars that were kept away from employees.
#2 While helping run the Manhattan restaurant, Healthalicious, Grimm is accused of keeping two sets of payroll records.
#2 The payroll records Grimm is reported to have turned over to the restaurant’s accountants, who used them as the basis for their tax returns, showed lower payouts to employees than he was actually paying them- as he opted for cash payouts of either half or all of their earnings so that there was no trail.
#2The perjury charge, however, comes from a deposition in January 2013 where he allegedly lied under oath.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z30DX81aYO
Republican Magician and Congressman Grimm is accused of magic tricks
Republican Houdini Grimm is accused of making $1 million dollars disappear off his payroll books rather than pay his employees their accurate earnings.
Gotta love those Republican magic tricks. Now, how will he deal with the fraud charges? Will the congressman have more tricks up his sleeve?
I don’t doubt that Grimm quite likely committed some or all of the crimes based on the number of accusations. But to use some high profile accusations to insuinuate an entire group of people are largely dishonest crooks who prevalently practice “accounting shenanigans” makes about as much sense as saying most employees steal from their employer based on a the fact some employees actually do get caught stealing.
re 12: “as he opted for cash payouts of either half or all of their earnings so that there was no trail (showing that he was using the labor of illegal aliens and paying them in cash to avoid payroll taxes).”
Try as you might, it’s going to be hard to put a good face on his campaign finance problems and the way he played fast and loose with the rules regarding employment and the fair compensation of employees.
Where’s the impeachment resolution? Or do Republicans only impeach Democrats for perjury? Can you spell
H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E-S?
@6 “In both his opening & closing Goldy is implying dishonesty & thievery to the majority of restaurant owners based on his political ideology.”
No, he’s not. He’s imputing (not “implying”) dishonesty and thievery to an unspecified plural number of restaurant owners. He never used the word “majority.” A more accurate characterization of his comments would be “some.”
@8 “Many tipped employees make mad bank at the restaurant.”
So that’s why recent college graduates are lining up for waiter and waitress jobs, eh?
#14 Just the facts.
This is about a Cheap Labor Conservative Republican who doesn’t want to pay a living wage, and got caught cheating.
Deal with it Republican Apologist troll :)
Kidding,
“But to use some high profile accusations to insuinuate [sic] an entire group of people are largely dishonest crooks.”
Yeah…you missed the point of Goldy’s post entirely. Take a deep breath and re-read. (Start by rereading the first sentence twice.)
It might help.
18,
What did they all major in that leads to no good jobs after graduation? It’s great to have a college degree, but shouldn’t college train a kid to get some kind of gainful employment after graduating?
@21 Typical wingnut: If workers can’t get jobs, it’s their fault, never the fault of a bad economy.
Well, there’s always trade school. They can’t get enough welders these days. Other technician jobs are out there, too. Nobody gets hired because they can recite Beowulf in Old English, but a kid with a skill has a much better chance of getting a job.
Actually, I’d say you’re the wingnut without a clue.
@ 21
Engineering, Mathematics, Biology, Anthropology, Forestry, Mycology, Physics, Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Metallurgy, Archeology, Paleontology, Literature, English, Foreign Language, Library Science, Linguistics, Astronomy, Psychology, Geology, Vulcanology, Oceanology, Meteorology, Physics…
Etc.
Etc.
Etc.
I know several people, many with advanced degrees who cannot find work in their fields of study. The only people who find jobs quickly in their respective fields are Computer geeks and mathematicians who run off to Wall Street as soon as they can. About a third of my Uncle’s students do exactly that, and he teaches Physics.
The only industries left in the United States are all related to software or money farming.
What’s wrong with being a worker in a trade? That’s what I do, and I don’t think I should be looked down upon by a bunch of history majors who can’t fix a flat tire.
“They can’t get enough welders these days.”
If welding wages went up, the market would supply more welders. This is how supply-demand market economics work.
And I was a history major…and I’ve fixed many a flat tire, so take that fucking prejudice and stick it up your fucking ass.
@ 26
I spent 25 years in machine shops, I run Planer Mills, vertical mills, big lathes, Vertical Turret lathes, and various CNC machines of similar type. I’ve run jobs on workpieces that weighed around 40,000 lbs. I worked for the same wage for the last 12 of those years with no raises and the benefits just kept getting more expensive. I started in a Union Shop in Seattle at $10 an hour in 1986, the benefits cost about $40 a month and that was good money. When I finally decided to give it up, I hadn’t had a raise in 7 years, the benefits were $135 per fucking WEEK, and the only thing that kept me doing it was the fact that I liked the work.
I have never grossed more than $37,000 a year in my life.
My actual take-home pay went down every single year for that time. I’ve had 5 layoffs and two firings in 20 years as the shops closed their doors one by one. There’s a reason why one doesn’t see 55 year old welders actually doing much welding and machinists of similar age are so beat up and tired they can barely walk much of the time. I know a couple guys that have been running the same damn machines for 40+ years and they’re fucking beat to shit, and have nothing but a mortgage and a beat to hell old car to show for it.
The machinist, pipefitters and welders training schools are a joke. They’re just grant farms for the people who own the schools. They’re graduating people with little actual knowledge of the profession and $20 thou or more in student loan debt, nearly zero job prospects, and it takes about 20 years to pay that off. In the end, those student loans end up being around $120,000-$150,000 total payoff. I’m already up to $24,000 and the 6.7% interest started accruing the moment I signed that first promissory note.
People aren’t attracted to the Trades anymore, mostly because they don’t pay jack diddley shit. The kids that are, rapidly find out that they’re completely disposable as employees and not worth much, and they don’t last very long when they discover that the best wage they’ll make for the next ten years won’t let them eat and pay rent at the same time. A starting Machinist now, with $22,000 in student loan debt can expect maybe $12 an hour to start. They might see as much as $16.00 an hour after three or four years on the job. The best non-Union machinists I know right now are making about $22.00 an hour, that after ten years or more on the job. CNC jocks are a dime a hundred. I can teach a fucking Chimpanzee to operate a three axis CNC mill.
Real wages, in terms of actual purchasing power have gone down nearly 50% since the 1970s. Up until the late 1960s, a machinist could expect to be able to buy a house, save up for retirement and send his kids to College on his wages. Now, making the rent on a shitty 2 bedroom apartment in the northend is almost impossible, especially if one buys a car.
It looks like Goldy brought some goatfuckers back with him. Good! This place needed more trolls.
Glad to see that Headless, Ekim, Roger, Deathfrogg, Proud, Darryl and others are still kicking. I’ve been hanging out with MikeBoyScout, Demokid and tensor over at (un)SP, posting as Dr. Zatoichi, the Blind Surgeon.
How about that! Horsesass has spellcheck now. Oh, and a new “Request Deletion” button too. Wonders never cease.
Geez, even the edit works. It didn’t work worth shit before.
This is the statement Grimm issued to the media:
“As far as all these allegations today I am going to let my legal team take care of these charges and we are going to fight tooth and nail. We are going to fight tooth and nail until I am fully exonerated. So let me be perfectly clear I will not abandon my post or the wonderful people who entrusted me to represent them. I have their backs and I know that they have mine. I will get right back to work as I always have. With honor and distinction I will serve and then, on top of all that, I have an election to win.”
http://politicalticker.blogs.c.....?hpt=hp_t2
This bravado is perfectly approporiate if Grimm is, in fact, an innocent victim of a politically motivated witch hunt — like, e.g., former U.S. attorney John McKay.
But if Grimm isn’t being framed by a vicious Democratic prosecutor, and has been charged because he actually committed crimes, then he appears to be another brain-dead Republican who — despite his law degree and law enforcement background — doesn’t comprehend that breaking the law is against the law.
Now can this be? Well, there seems to be a mindset among many Republicans that they’re entitled to special privileges, i.e., that because they believe in FREEDOMZ society’s rules (aka “laws”) don’t apply to them … only to people who don’t believe in “liberty” i.e. liberals and Democrats.
Sound silly? Well, I’m not making this up. You couldn’t make this shit up. These people actually believe — sincerely, honestly, seriously — that the concept of freedom means obeying laws is optional.
That explains why they’re always genuinely shocked when they get arrested for what the rest of us consider to be crimes. I mean, they just didn’t see that coming. Because, after all, nothing they do constitutes a crime; so how can they possibly be guilty?
It’ll be interesting to hear what Mr. Grimm says at his sentencing
if he’s eventually convicted.
Given that stealing and tax evasion are normal behavior for Republicans, I understand why a Republican politician would be surprised and confused over being arrested for that.
Because Jesus will forgive their sins, they have no need to account for any transgressions committed on the mortal plane. As long as they have Jesus in their hearts and commit their souls to the Church, they have no need for the petty Laws of Men. They only answer to God.
Ask anyone working in an administrative position in a penitentiary, they’ll tell you that 95% of the people they have to watch and keep in the cages are Christians. All the murderers, rapists, chomos, robbers, car thieves and fraudsters. All the guys with the shanks in their sleeves, all the junkies and skinheads.
Everyone is a Christian, and everyone is innocent.
@29 I’m under the impression (u)SP went under, and is just going through its death throes, like the P-I.
@23 You make a good point … to a point. There are good jobs in the trades, and apprenticeships are going begging for lack of applicants. But those jobs pay well because they’re union jobs, and I get an impression people like you are against unions and union wages. If that’s true, then you’re suggesting these kids seek careers in which you want to cut wages and benefits, instead of going to college to better themselves. That sounds like lousy advice to me.
@24 Even our stupidest trolls aren’t so stupid they would ever take me for a wingnut, so your comment is a new world record of some sort. Congratulations.
For your edification, and to prevent further confusion, I’m a Democratic party hack and liberal propagandist.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted the HA Ad Hoc Posting Rules, and we may have a new troll or two who isn’t familiar with them, so it’s probably time to put them up again. As HA’s ex-officio greeter, that’s my responsibility. Here they are:
1. This is a liberal blog.
2. Anyone can post here, except JCH.
3. There is no censorship.
4. As liberals, our sacred duty is to verbally kick the piss out of America-hating trolls.
5. No mercy for wingnuts!
6. Our terms are unconditional surrender, and there will be trials.
7. klake is a nazi.
Any questions?
@30 Yeah. How’s that for progress? Even HA gets a software upgrade every 10 years. Welcome back! As you can see, little else has changed around here. A couple new trolls, but same old wingnut stupidity.
@26 We wouldn’t look down on you if you pulled your head out of that tire. This blog is populated by intellectual types. Ranting ignoramuses don’t thrive here.
Of course, the biggest problem with not knowing something is that you don’t realize you don’t know it.
Trade school is okay, college is better, but I have an even better idea: Inherit some money, invest it in stocks, and live on the dividends.
The advantages are endless. You can sleep in. No commuting. You can’t get laid off. You get a 66% discount on taxes. I made $2,000 in the stock market today, and didn’t do a damn thing to earn it. Sure beats working. Especially in a country that worships capitalists and despises workers.
This system seems silly, because workers produce all the wealth, and capitalists merely push it round and round in endless circles, but that’s the way it is and I just go with the flow.