On Monday, Rep. Chris Collins, R- N.Y.) said he would stay on the ballot in New York’s 27th congressional district. Collins had previously told party leaders that he would step aside after he was indicted by the Feds for charges related to insider trading.
Collins could have removed himself from the ballot to make room for a unindicted Republican. Now it looks too late.
That’s a huge blow for Republicans who are already at risk of losing the seat.
Collins, though, seems to have opted not to help out the party and the country but instead reaffirmed his corrupt tendencies by putting himself above all else.
In fact, Collins likely bets that he has a better shot reaching a deal with prosecutors if he is still in office and can tout his “public service” as a reason to get a more lenient plea.
[Opinion: Chris Collins is in big trouble, despite the murkiness of insider trading laws]
Of course, at least half of that logic falls apart if he loses in November. And he very well might as even in a heavily red district, a Republican label likely won’t be enough to persuade voters to support a clearly corrupt contender.
And let’s be clear – corrupt is the right word.
In August, Collins was indicted on 11 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud and making false statements to investigators because while on the board of Innate Immunotherapeutics he allegedly learned that a high-stakes drug trial had failed and quickly pushed his son and other family members to sell shares before the news was made public. That move allegedly saved his family more that $700,000 in losses.
By staying on the ballot Collins seriously jeopardizes what should be an easy Republican win in a year when they need a few.
