In which a member of the GOP loses his damn mind
So I know I'm late to the party on this, but I haven't seen anyone writing about it on LJ so maybe y'all don't know either.
I'm going to tell you the most recent events in the sad, sad story of (former) U.S. Representative Thaddeus McCotter, from Michigan. He held that position from 2002 through July 6 of this year, when he abruptly resigned. His resignation forces his district to spend $650,000 on a required special election, which, it turns out, will be held at the same time the regular election would have been held anyway.
He was unlikely to be reelected this year, though he had held his seat for a decade. Originally, he wasn't going to be running at all; instead, he threw his hat into the ring for the Presidential nomination. Unlike virtually every other not-Romney who ran for that office, he never achieved front runner status. In fact he never polled more than one percent, anywhere.
Eventually he gave up on his Presidential dreams and decided to run for reelection in the Congressional district he'd held for ten years. He turned in the required signatures to get his name on the ballot, but when the Michigan Secretary of State took a closer look at the petitions, it turned out that the signatures were fraudulent. Damn near all of them were faked. Of the 1,830 signatures he turned in (only 1,000 were required, and there's an upper limit of 2,000), all but 244 were disqualified. Numerous petition sheets appeared to have been copied--in some cases, as many as three times--and in some cases a different canvasser's name was attached to one of the copies. Michigan elections director Chris Thomas conducted his own review, and said there was evidence signatures from 2010 petitions had been cut-and-pasted onto the 2012 sheets. His office's review revealed that dozens of petition sheets appeared to have been copied in what he described as an "unprecedented level" of fraud.
McCotter was alerted to the problems with his nominating petitions on May 25, according to his campaign. Six days later, Michigan's attorney general, Bill Schuette, a Republican, announced that he would conduct a criminal investigation into the petitions; his office would not comment further on the direction or progress of the inquiry. McCotter announced that since his name wouldn't appear on the ballot, he would run as a write-in candidate.
On Thursday, July 5, The Detroit News ran a piece describing a pilot for a television sitcom written by McCotter.
"Bumper Sticker: Made On Motown" starred McCotter hosting a crude variety show cast with characters bearing the nicknames of his congressional staffers, his brother and a drunk, perverted "Black Santa." They take pot shots about McCotter's ill-fated bid for the White House while spewing banter about drinking, sex, race, flatulence, puking and women's anatomy. It features a cartoon intro and closing snippet with an Oldsmobile careening through Detroit and knocking over the city's landmarks. The double-finned car has a Michigan license plate reading: "Made on MoTown."
McCotter told The News the work was unfinished and was given to a reporter without his permission. He said the show was a "cathartic" creative outlet that helped him through the humiliation of the presidential campaign flop. "Bumper Sticker" brought to life a possibility of something that could be worse than his political failure - being trapped in a bad TV show that takes away "any shard of dignity left," he told The Detroit News.
McCotter maintains he didn't write the show on the taxpayers' time: "Most of my writing is done in my garage … where I can smoke."
The character named "Wardo," the nickname others acknowledge is used for District Director Paul Seewald, dresses in a matador costume, gets drunk on a whisky-laced Slurpee and runs off stage after puking.
"Chowsers," the nickname for Deputy District Director Don Yowchuang, leers at women's body parts and snaps cell phone pictures of them, goes "cougar hunting" and repeats the line "I'm Thai."
There's more at the link. You really should go read that article.
According to former congressional staffers, McCotter was also pitching a script for a movie with the working title, "Think Dink," starring a character played by his brother, Dinky McSweeny, running for a Senate seat.
The day after the Detroit News article was released, Friday, July 6, McCotter resigned his position. He wrote a resignation letter that has to be seen to be believed.
Today I have resigned from the office of United States Representative for Michigan's 11th Congressional District.
After nearly 26 years in elected office, this past nightmarish month and a half have, for the first time, severed the necessary harmony between the needs of my constituency and of my family. As this harmony is required to serve, its absence requires I leave.
The recent event's totality of calumnies, indignities and deceits have weighed most heavily upon my family. Thus, acutely aware one cannot rebuild their hearth of home amongst the ruins of their U.S. House office, for the sake of my loved ones I must "strike another match, go start anew" by embracing the promotion back from public servant to sovereign citizen.
I do not leave for an existing job and face diminishing prospects (and am both unwilling and ill-suited to lobby), my priorities are twofold: find gainful employment to help provide for my family; and continue to assist, in any way they see fit, the Michigan Attorney General's earnest and thorough investigation, which I requested, into the 2012 petition filing.
Who talks like that?
And to explain my choice of icon, I'll leave you with this: Screaming Lemurs is the name of the band he plays in with his brother, Dennis, a school teacher.
I'm going to tell you the most recent events in the sad, sad story of (former) U.S. Representative Thaddeus McCotter, from Michigan. He held that position from 2002 through July 6 of this year, when he abruptly resigned. His resignation forces his district to spend $650,000 on a required special election, which, it turns out, will be held at the same time the regular election would have been held anyway.
He was unlikely to be reelected this year, though he had held his seat for a decade. Originally, he wasn't going to be running at all; instead, he threw his hat into the ring for the Presidential nomination. Unlike virtually every other not-Romney who ran for that office, he never achieved front runner status. In fact he never polled more than one percent, anywhere.
Eventually he gave up on his Presidential dreams and decided to run for reelection in the Congressional district he'd held for ten years. He turned in the required signatures to get his name on the ballot, but when the Michigan Secretary of State took a closer look at the petitions, it turned out that the signatures were fraudulent. Damn near all of them were faked. Of the 1,830 signatures he turned in (only 1,000 were required, and there's an upper limit of 2,000), all but 244 were disqualified. Numerous petition sheets appeared to have been copied--in some cases, as many as three times--and in some cases a different canvasser's name was attached to one of the copies. Michigan elections director Chris Thomas conducted his own review, and said there was evidence signatures from 2010 petitions had been cut-and-pasted onto the 2012 sheets. His office's review revealed that dozens of petition sheets appeared to have been copied in what he described as an "unprecedented level" of fraud.
McCotter was alerted to the problems with his nominating petitions on May 25, according to his campaign. Six days later, Michigan's attorney general, Bill Schuette, a Republican, announced that he would conduct a criminal investigation into the petitions; his office would not comment further on the direction or progress of the inquiry. McCotter announced that since his name wouldn't appear on the ballot, he would run as a write-in candidate.
On Thursday, July 5, The Detroit News ran a piece describing a pilot for a television sitcom written by McCotter.
"Bumper Sticker: Made On Motown" starred McCotter hosting a crude variety show cast with characters bearing the nicknames of his congressional staffers, his brother and a drunk, perverted "Black Santa." They take pot shots about McCotter's ill-fated bid for the White House while spewing banter about drinking, sex, race, flatulence, puking and women's anatomy. It features a cartoon intro and closing snippet with an Oldsmobile careening through Detroit and knocking over the city's landmarks. The double-finned car has a Michigan license plate reading: "Made on MoTown."
McCotter told The News the work was unfinished and was given to a reporter without his permission. He said the show was a "cathartic" creative outlet that helped him through the humiliation of the presidential campaign flop. "Bumper Sticker" brought to life a possibility of something that could be worse than his political failure - being trapped in a bad TV show that takes away "any shard of dignity left," he told The Detroit News.
McCotter maintains he didn't write the show on the taxpayers' time: "Most of my writing is done in my garage … where I can smoke."
The character named "Wardo," the nickname others acknowledge is used for District Director Paul Seewald, dresses in a matador costume, gets drunk on a whisky-laced Slurpee and runs off stage after puking.
"Chowsers," the nickname for Deputy District Director Don Yowchuang, leers at women's body parts and snaps cell phone pictures of them, goes "cougar hunting" and repeats the line "I'm Thai."
There's more at the link. You really should go read that article.
According to former congressional staffers, McCotter was also pitching a script for a movie with the working title, "Think Dink," starring a character played by his brother, Dinky McSweeny, running for a Senate seat.
The day after the Detroit News article was released, Friday, July 6, McCotter resigned his position. He wrote a resignation letter that has to be seen to be believed.
Today I have resigned from the office of United States Representative for Michigan's 11th Congressional District.
After nearly 26 years in elected office, this past nightmarish month and a half have, for the first time, severed the necessary harmony between the needs of my constituency and of my family. As this harmony is required to serve, its absence requires I leave.
The recent event's totality of calumnies, indignities and deceits have weighed most heavily upon my family. Thus, acutely aware one cannot rebuild their hearth of home amongst the ruins of their U.S. House office, for the sake of my loved ones I must "strike another match, go start anew" by embracing the promotion back from public servant to sovereign citizen.
I do not leave for an existing job and face diminishing prospects (and am both unwilling and ill-suited to lobby), my priorities are twofold: find gainful employment to help provide for my family; and continue to assist, in any way they see fit, the Michigan Attorney General's earnest and thorough investigation, which I requested, into the 2012 petition filing.
Who talks like that?
And to explain my choice of icon, I'll leave you with this: Screaming Lemurs is the name of the band he plays in with his brother, Dennis, a school teacher.