Attorney General Schuette to File Criminal Charges in McCotter Case
Charges stem from investigation into 'unprecedented level' of fraud surrounding Thaddeus McCotter's failure to qualify for the ballot to retain Congressional seat.
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Criminal charges will be filed in the case surrounding former U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter's (R-Livonia) failure to qualify for the ballot to keep his seat in Michigan's 11th Congressional District, MLive is reporting.
Attorney General Bill Schuette will announce the charges at an 11 a.m. news conference Thursday, MLive reported. Schuette's spokeswoman Joy Yearout said more than one person will be charged, the report said.
McCotter turned in just 244 valid signatures out of 1,800 submitted, which led McCotter to launch a short-lived write-in campaign. McCotter dropped the write-in effort June 2.
According to MLive, Michigan's Bureau of Elections Director Chris Thomas has said his staff discovered an "unprecedented level" of fraud, including photocopied petition pages possibly reused from an earlier campaign.
McCotter resigned his seat July 6, citing a "nightmarish month and a half."
The sudden resignation prompted a $650,000 special primary election on Sept. 5 for a race to temporarily fill McCotter's seat through the end of his term in addition to the general race to fill the seat for a full term.
On Tuesday, Kerry Bentivolio (R-Milford) and Syed Taj (D-Canton) won primaries for the Nov. 6 election to serve a full term in the 11th Congressional District.
Both the race to temporarily fill McCotter's seat and the general race for the 11th District seat will appear on ballots Nov. 6.
Herb Helzer
7:05 pm on Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Waiting until after the primary to press charges? How very...courteous of the AG.
EHM
9:54 pm on Wednesday, August 8, 2012
It would be nice if Schuette would just tell us the charges rather than sending out a teaser the day before.
Mike
10:03 pm on Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Good that they are getting to the bottom of this. I would still like McCotter to open his warchest and pony up the $650,000 that the taxpayer is on the hook for because he could not Man Up.
Chuck Gelletly
7:35 am on Thursday, August 9, 2012
It's hard to believe that McCotter would cheat on nominating petitions, when he obviously would have no problem doing it legally. Let's see what the investigation brings out.
Robert
11:39 am on Thursday, August 9, 2012
Great comment Chuck, I'd like to see the truth come out as well. Its doesn’t make a lot of sense to cheat the process with his inherent popularity. I’m a conservative and have not been fond of McCotter ever since he voted for the auto bailout. Despite this he’s had a strong following.
Herb Helzer
11:27 am on Friday, August 17, 2012
Now that there's evidence McCotter also fudged his 2010 nominating petitions, and possibly even the ones for 2008 and 2006 -- in which none of the four people AG Schuette indicted were involved -- perhaps he really did have a problem "doing it legally."
If true, and if Schuette doesn't indict McCotter himself, I think Thad's last three opponents -- Natalie Mosher, Joe Larkin and Tony Trupiano -- should consider civil action. Let's see Thaddeus finally USE that law degree he's never had a need for.
Michigan Voter
11:17 am on Thursday, August 9, 2012
Interesting that all the election fraud issues are coming from the Republicans (McCotter camp and little Jimmy O'Keefe) given their tough stance on election fraud.
Herb Helzer
11:32 am on Friday, August 17, 2012
Don't forget "Turncoat Roy" Schmidt and House Speaker Jase Bolger's conspiracy to allow Rep. Schmidt to switch parties at the very last minute and run unopposed in the 76th District as a Republcan.
But by all means, let's enforce draconian voter ID laws to make the process of voting more onerous and burdensome. Vetoing those bills was the single best act of Gov. Rick Snyder's tenure -- and ignoring those vetoes was the most shameful and partisan thing Secretary of State Ruth Johnson has done to date.
Sandra Daniels
4:33 pm on Thursday, August 9, 2012
I believe the people that said they would help/volunteer he gave his TRUST to them. I know my friend, Marilynn was asked to sign a petition and then a fella asked her also. Marilynn said she already signed a petition, but I ask you "how many people did express the same?" Why could he not just stay as a Representative without even having a 'write-in'? Many people are 'hurt' that McCotter did not ask for a 'write in' and many of us would have voted for him. RE: a lawsuit I think the bad guys will be the volunteers that were in charge of the petitions.
Jen
5:41 pm on Thursday, August 9, 2012
Last I heard, Michigan has financial troubles. We already have to hold an expensive (not to mention stressful election-for those who work it) just to replace his seat for a few months. Why in God's name are we going to pursue a legal suit? Does someone think Michigan tax hasn't paid enough to this situation? Sure, we can try to get that kind of money from the people being prosecuted but if they don't have it, like a lot of us don't have it.... then we are still spending money we don't have. What if we have to put them in jail? Then we have to pay to house and feed them! Stop the insanity and let it die, we don't have the money to toss around on another political lawsuit. Kwame is already sucking the life out of Detroit.....
Herb Helzer
11:35 am on Friday, August 17, 2012
Once we start ignoring felonies -- and blatantly subverting the political process by faking thousands of signatures IS a felony -- because of the COST, that's when you should start worrying.