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Trial Balloon · Ep. 191: Blue Wave Update

Grayson Will Make Another Bid for Congress

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Former Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) told the Orlando Weekly that he’s running for Congress again, but hasn’t decided from which district.

“Grayson, who has stirred up his fair share of controversy over the years, served one term representing the state’s 10th Congressional District and two representing the 9th Congressional District in Central Florida. Though Grayson has officially filed to run in Florida’s 11th Congressional District, he has doubled down on the fact that it’s just a holding spot for his paperwork as he continues to raise money for his latest campaign.”

Grayson Says He’s Running But Won’t Say Where

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Firebrand Alan Grayson (D) “says he wants to return to Congress in 2018, but is not yet saying which seat he’s running for,” Politico reports.

Said Grayson: “Yes, this cycle is what I’m looking at. But Florida law says I can run anywhere.”

“The Orlando Democrat has never stopped accepting online contributions since leaving Congress in 2016 to run for the U.S. Senate… Grayson in recent months has again started actively soliciting online contributions from the same small-dollar base that in the past helped make him a dangerous fundraiser.”

Report Says Grayson Likely Broke the Law

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A report compiled by the House Office of Congressional Ethics alleged that there is “a substantial reason to believe” that Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL)  broke federal law and House ethics rules in connection with his offshore hedge fund, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

The House Committee on Ethics also announced that the resulting investigation requires “further review.”

Grayson’s Double Life Under Investigation

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Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) ran a hedge fund at the same time he was a U.S. congressman, the New York Times reports.

“This highly unusual dual role — a sitting House lawmaker running a hedge fund, which until recently had operations in the Cayman Islands — has led to an investigation of Mr. Grayson by the House Committee on Ethics. The inquiry has become public, but emails and marketing documents obtained by The New York Times show the extent to which Mr. Grayson’s roles as a hedge fund manager and a member of Congress were intertwined, and how he promoted his international travels, some with congressional delegations, to solicit business.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

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“No, interesting is the word you’re looking for. I say interesting things. I don’t like to bore people with usual drivel.”

— Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), quoted by the AP, cutting off a reporter who said his “inelegant” comments make some Democrats nervous.

Grayson Will Run for Senate in Florida

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Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) “will enter Florida’s 2016 U.S. Senate race this morning, casting himself as sick child from the tenaments in the Bronx who made it, first at Harvard then as a lawyer fighting war profiteers and now a champion of everyday people in Congress,” the Tampa Bay Times reports.

“The move sets up a fierce battle among the Democratic Party’s liberal activists, which Grayson will rely on, and the establishment that has coalesed behind Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-FL).”

Conservative Group Backs Grayson in New Ad

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“In a rare encroachment into a Democratic primary, the conservative Club for Growth is airing a television ad that attacks Florida Senate candidate Patrick Murphy for supporting the Export-Import Bank and praises potential rival Alan Grayson for opposing the credit agency for American businesses,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The ad is part of a $1 million advertising campaign by the Club for Growth, a free-market group that casts Ex-Im spending as corporate welfare and is best known for attacking centrist Republicans.”

Grayson Tried to Have His Wife Arrested

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A review of Rep. Alan Grayson’s (D-FL) “soap-opera divorce case shows he unsuccessfully tried to have her criminally charged for far less: ringing up grocery, gasoline and car-repair expenses on his credit card,” Politico reports.

“Grayson’s previously unreported effort to have Lolita Grayson arrested on credit-card fraud charges was revealed in one of her court filings that complained about the wealthy Democrat’s tactics to withhold money from her.”

Grayson Flips Out Over Disclosure of Offshore Investments

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Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), “the outspoken, populist Democrat who thunders against Wall Street fat cats,and used to to joke about Mitt Romney’s low tax bill, incorporated a couple hedge funds in the Cayman Islands so investors could avoid taxes,” the Tampa Bay Times reports.

But he wasn’t happy when asked about it by a reporter.

Said Grayson: “Are you fucking kidding? I set up a fund that might solicit foreign investors….I have no present intention of soliciting foreign investors. Your perception issue is bullshit. This is even worse than Grayson’s girlfriend might run for congress 18 months from now. This is a whole nother level of bullshit. Are are you some kind of shitting robot? You go around shitting on on people?”

He added that every time “some bullshit artist calls you up and tries to stick a knife in my gut” makes him more inclined to run for U.S. Senate.

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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