When you are a U.S. congressman facing a federal indictment, hiring staff amid the uncertainly of your future is a challenge,
Politico.com reports.
The deputy chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, Blair Bartlett, is finding filling openings in her office difficult as Grimm faces a 20-count indictment amid charges that he skimmed $1 million from a restaurant he owned before he won his first term in 2010.
"As you can imagine, it hasn’t been easy to find a qualified candidate who wants to live on the edge and take a chance working for Rep. Grimm," she wrote in an email obtained by Politico Wednesday as she attempted to find a legislative assistant for health and education.
"Ideally, this person would have legislative experience. Hill experience would be great, and NYC experience would be amazing, but beggars can’t be choosers, right?" she added in her tepid plea.
The
Gothamist website was more direct about the Republican's want ad, writing in its headline about Grimm's office search: "edgy masochist wanted."
The Staten Island lawmaker, 44, a former Marine and FBI agent, was indicted in April on wire and tax fraud related to his Healthalicious restaurant, putting his future in limbo as he attempts re-election against Democrat Dominic Recchia.
Recchia has out-raised Grimm significantly, hauling in $262,000 to Grimm's $23,430 during the Federal Election Commission's last reporting period in June, the
Staten Island Advance reported Tuesday. Grimm's campaign pledged to draw back and return to the grass-roots efforts that won him his first seat in Congress four years ago.
Grimm has at least one group of fans on his side. When he showed up at a sweet 16 birthday party on behalf of one of his constituents, a close family friend, he wowed the teenagers, including one who dubbed Grimm her "bae."
Quickly the teens took to social media to tout their affections for the single lawmaker,
Business Insider reported.
"I'm gonna dance with him all night and make him fall in love with me," one attendee tweeted. "He told me he's taking me to the prom. I was like 'you fricking better,'" she added.
Grimm, who has been named one of Congress's sexiest bachelors, apparently charmed the girls, even as he drew national attention for his short fuse after he threatened to toss a reporter for NY1, Michael Scotto, off a balcony in a House office building rotunda in January. Grimm later apologized for his conduct, according to
ABC News.
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