Democrats Planning to Replace Embattled Queens Congressman With a Guy Already Under Investigation

This should be a smooth transition. Replace one corrupt Congressman with a guy already under federal investigation. Failing that, the backup plan is installing a guy who famously has declared war on Happy Meals. Yeah, that should work out.

Queens Democratic leaders are so worried that the ethical and criminal probes surrounding Rep. Gregory Meeks will bring him down, they held a secret meeting to pick his successor.

The clandestine cabal assembled last month at the Guy Brewer Democratic Club in Queens and included the borough’s Democratic boss, Rep. Joseph Crowley, according to two elected officials familiar with the gathering.

But the handpicked successor, state Sen. Malcolm Smith, seems a curious choice because he is under federal investigation himself.

“It would send a terrible signal to DC,” a source said of Smith’s coronation. “We would be the . . . joke of the country.”

Smith was at the meeting, along with City Council members Ruben Wills and Leroy Comrie, according to sources.

Meeks is up for re-election next year in a heavily minority and immigrant district that covers southeast Queens. If Meeks resigns or is expelled from Congress, the governor could call a special election to fill the seat or leave it vacant until the November 2012 elections.

A primary against Meeks is not being mulled because the embattled congressman’s premature exit is assumed, a source said.

“The problem with Greg is that he has done too wrong for too long,” said the source. “It’s just a question of which thing catches you first.”

Comrie was also tapped in the closed-door meeting to run for Smith’s Senate seat if Smith vacates it for Washington, said a source.

Both Comrie and Smith denied any knowledge of the meeting.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Meeks, 58, last month was named one of the most corrupt members of Congress by a Washington-based watchdog.

The House ethics committee is probing whether a $40,000 payment Meeks accepted from a Queens businessman in 2007 was a gift and not a loan, as the congressman maintains. The businessman, Edul Ahmad, was arrested in July on charges of operating a $50 million mortgage-fraud scheme.

“The jockeying for position began the day they indicted Ahmad,” said one of the elected officials. “Everyone assumes Ahmad is going to tell the feds what he knows about Greg.”

Comrie's a real heavyweight most famous for his war on McDonald's. He should fit right in down in DC.