Posted on 06/02/2012 7:01:57 PM PDT by quantim
LIVONIA, Mich. (AP) -- U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan announced Saturday that he would not seek a sixth term through a write-in campaign after he failed to get enough signatures to get on the ballot.
McCotter ran a little-noticed Republican presidential campaign last year before asking voters to re-elect him to his Detroit-area congressional seat. He surprised everyone late last month when he announced the Michigan secretary of state's office had determined he didn't have the 1,000 valid signatures needed to get on the Aug. 7 primary ballot, even though 2,000 signatures were turned in.
A spokesman for the secretary of state has said only a couple hundred signatures appeared valid and many seemed to be copies.
McCotter initially said he would conduct a write-in campaign, while seeking an investigation into happened with his petitions. But Saturday, he issued a statement saying he could not cooperate with the investigation, fulfill his current duties and run a write-in campaign, so he was ending his candidacy.
"One can't clean up a mess multitasking," he said. "Honoring my promise to the sovereign people of our community only allows me to finish the official duties of my present Congressional term; and aid the State Attorney General criminal investigation that I requested into identifying the person or persons who concocted the fraudulent petitions that have cost me so dearly."
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
One of the safest seats in the country.
There is a farmer who is running on the Republican side. Neither of the Democrats who are running are serious candidates.
2000 signatures and only a couple hundred valid? I don’t believe this.
Schuette Announces AG Investigation of 11th Congressional District Petition Circulation
Contact: Joy Yearout 517-373-8060
May 31, 2012
LANSING - Attorney General Bill Schuette today announced the Attorney General’s Criminal Division will investigate allegations of possible fraud related to nominating petitions filed in Representative Thaddeus McCotter’s 2012 candidacy for the 11th Congressional District. The decision to investigate follows a formal referral from the Secretary of State’s Bureau of Elections.
“We will follow the facts, without fear or favor,” said Schuette. “It’s our duty to maintain the integrity of our election process. We will conduct a thorough and comprehensive investigation. If evidence of criminal violations is uncovered, we will not hesitate to prosecute.”
Earlier this month, Representative Thaddeus McCotter submitted nominating petitions to the Michigan Secretary of State for his candidacy for the 11th Congressional District. A formal review by the Bureau of Elections revealed various discrepancies in the petition filing, including duplicate signatures and the appearance of altered petitions.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the people behind Occupy and that swatting thing is behind this. This is my congressman and this district is solidly conservative.
The fake tea party did grow out of that part of the state. And what better way to get back at Shuette, Johnson, and McCotter. Shuette and Johnson were targets of fraud before.
Thanks for the ping; post. Very interesting. Too bad...I like Thad. He’s my rep.
Yes something is amiss. I know Livonia well and spent most of my career in Oakland County, it’s not like Thad had a swing district - in fact it just got muscled up in the redistricting.
Not sure what bothers me most, rats doing mischief or McCotter taking his seat for granted, which he clearly did.
Just a gut feeling but Schuette might go steps farther than Mike Cox would have.
If rats collected fake names, somebody knows who thay are.
And who could be this stupid?
Only a unionist with a MI GED.
He seemed to be keeping a low profile for the last half year.
Yes, instead of an idiot idea like a POTUS run.
I take it you mean the Michigan AD, not Holder.
On the few facts available here, it would seem that McCotter delegated the collection of signatures to someone, and that that someone was in the other camp and submitted false signatures. At least that’s how it reads so far.
Now, granted, McCotter should have taken a bit more interest in an action that would determine his future, but still, this sounds like he was sandbagged somehow.
That this has driven him from the write-in campaign to help with the investigation strikes me as extremely odd, unless he has information that says the guy from Milford had a pretty good chance of unseating him anyway in the primary. Although I am a strong McCotter supporter and always have been, I have to admit, he was becoming a little "inside-the-beltway" for me. And I'm not the only one in the district who felt this way.
It seems like someone in the last few steps of the chain to submit the signatures was up to no good. McCotter is my rep too. I heard him speak at our first tea party rally. It was a short but great speech.
Maybe he can crack the whip in his last few months in office.
Inside the Beltway? McCotter is the most OUTSPOKEN member of Congress when it comes to Communist Chima, its abuses of its own and of Tibet. He just returned from a trip to Taiwan, our true ally, and to South Korea. On both trips he was openly critical of both the Chinese and North Korean regimes. No one who is “inside the beltway” is as critcial of Communist China as Thad McCotter has been.
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