Queens Democrats are apparently looking for a worthy successor to Rep. Gregory Meeks, who just last month was judged to be one of the most corrupt creatures in Congress.
Post reporters Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein revealed Sunday that the Democratic county chairman, Rep. Joseph Crowley, convened a confab in September to coronate state Sen. Malcolm Smith for the seat.
Crowley, who makes no bones about living in the DC area, may not be up to date on the state of political play in Queens — and thus may be unaware that Smith, like Meeks, is under federal investigation over a charity scam the two ran that made $30,000 in Hurricane Katrina aid money vanish.
Meeks vowed that “every dime” the group raised would go to victims of the storm. But those dimes never rolled south — even as Smith kept pouring tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer cash into the charity using member-item appropriations.
Smith also is linked to that gamy Aqueduct racino deal that played a big role in former Gov. Paterson’s decision not to seek election to a full term.
Sources told The Post that Crowley is making the arrangements should Meeks decline to run for re-election, or in case prosecutors run him out of town first.
Councilman Leroy Comrie would then be installed in Smith’s place in the Senate, a nifty one-two combination.
As a party source told The Post: “The problem with [Meeks] is that he has done too wrong for too long.”
Smith has done wrong for years, too — but it looks like Crowley wants to give him a go. That would be bad for the country — but par for the course for Queens.
More’s the pity.