I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Chris Collins has to resign.
And any plea agreement that doesn’t include his resignation is a prosecutorial failure by the United States Department of Justice.
As the word has spread that he will tomorrow go into federal court in Manhattan and plead guilty to one or more federal felonies related to insider trading, there is no other option but his removal from office.
He broke the law, and he lied about it.
Specifically, he lied to his constituents about it. Because the same man who is on Tuesday going to admit his felonious conduct is the same man who has for more than a year proclaimedand protested his innocence. The same man who has repeatedly assured the people of the 27thDistrict of New York that he would fight the charges and be acquitted has now done a 180.
And thereby acknowledged what we knew all along.
That he is guilty as sin.
Something which he knew all along as well. And that’s an aggravating factor in his conduct.
Chris Collins knew from that night at the White House, punching up his son to pass along proprietary information, that he was doing wrong. And he knew that he was going to beconvicted.
Shortly after the charges were made public, Chris Collins was advised by another Republican member of the House, one knowledgeable in federal law and its prosecution, that hehad been caught dead to rights, and that his best move was to make a deal involving as little prison time as possible.
Chris Collins knew that before he ran for re-election, when he was declaring his innocence and assuring voters that he would be acquitted.
So he’s a thief and a liar.
A thief because his inside information cost other investors many tens of thousands of dollars in soon-to-be-worthless stock. A liar because of his months-long denial of that factto his constituents.
And Washington already has enough thieves and liars.
It’s time to drain the swamp of one of our own. It’s time for the 27thto be represented by someone without a mug shot. It’s time for Chris Collins to go away.
And if the federal plea agreement he’s entering into doesn’t attend to that, then he should, from the steps of the courthouse. He should man up and step down.
And if he doesn’t, the various Republican county chairmen across his district should call for him to do so. The state chairman should lead the way. It should be unanimous andbipartisan. There is no Republican majority to preserve, no helping hand to Donald Trump to be supported, there is just a crook.
And in 1974, the Republican Party showed that it knows how to handle a crook.
In 2019, it should show that it still remembers.
Chris Collins has hidden behind his money and his Boy Scout imagery long enough. He engaged in a crime of selfishness, and has shown months of similar selfishness since, usingthe 27thDistrict of New York as his platform and bargaining chip. He has boasted of a primary, and predicted a general election win, and stymied the rise of his replacement by his self-serving deception.
I don’t just write this as a commentator, I write it as a constituent.
A constituent who has seen my Republican Party put two successive rich men into this seat – rich men who have each been chased from office in disgrace. We have put a premium onmoney and not on principle. We have abandoned our belief that right makes might.
We have auctioned the office to the highest self-funder, and look where we are.
When you treat the office like something that can be whored out, you can’t be surprised when those who claim it treat it like dirt.
And Chris Collins has treated it like dirt, and brought a disgraceful end to a promising public life.
And the irony is that he has fallen because he did not hold true to the values that were key to his rise. So proud of his Eagle Scout roots, Chris Collins will slink into shamebecause he did not do his duty to God and his country, and because he was not trustworthy.
Chris Collins had every opportunity, and he had the trust of his neighbors.
But he wasted that opportunity, and he violated that trust.
And soon he will be a felon.
And soon he must be a former congressman.