Grimm Rejects Tea Party Activists Who Elected Him as He Favors Wall Street
“When we demonize Wall Street, it’s the people on Main Street who don’t have a job,” U.S. Representative Michael Grimm said as he walked the Jersey City trading floor of ICAP Plc, the world’s largest interbroker dealer.
In any other Congress, Grimm’s support for businesses that employ many of his constituents wouldn’t attract attention.
Not this year. Like many new Republicans in Congress, Grimm was propelled into office by Tea Party activists determined to slash government spending and stop economic bailout efforts like the Troubled Asset Relief Program that aided Wall Street. Now, the lawmaker whose fondness for pinstripes earned him his nickname is doing what it takes to get re-elected in a Staten Island district dependent on financial-service and government jobs — and angering some supporters in the process.
His approach helps explain why the 87 new House Republican freshmen haven’t hardened into the block of anti-government lawmakers that Tea Party activists thought they elected.