(Note: Reposting from yesterday because a) Syed Taj is awesome and b) I'm very proud of the headline)
Oh, the Thad McCotter Petition Signature Fraud Festival keeps getting more fun by the hour. Here's the latest developments:
The Detroit Free Press has some more choice tidbits yesterday morning:
Photocopies of petitions, dates that were cut and pasted onto the petition forms and different-colored ink on identical petitions were just a few of the tactics used to try to fool state election officials into believing that U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter had enough signatures to get on the Aug. 7 primary ballot.
"This wasn't anything that was an innocent mistake," Lansing political consultant Tom Shields said Tuesday. "It was purely an attempt to make up for a lack of signatures, which is politically criminal."
Or maybe just plain criminal. The state Attorney General's Office is investigating to determine whether any laws were broken.
The ploy was so clumsy that it was easily spotted.
Plus, some delicious irony thrown in for bonus points: His district was redrawn specifically to help make his seat
safer, but...
McCotter has another disadvantage. Half of the newly drawn 11th Congressional District, which stretches from western Wayne County into Oakland County and includes the GOP strongholds of Birmingham and the Bloomfields, is new to him.
Ah, sweet, sweet schadenfreude...
Meanwhile, the Oakland County Republican Party is openly expressing how pissed off they are at Thad managing to turn what should've been a slam-dunk Congressional race (5-term incumbent in a district redrawn specifically to solidify his re-election) into a complete clusterfuck that could lead to the Dems gaining a seat:
U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter has problems beyond having his name missing from the August primary ballot. Oakland County Republicans are openly dismissing the Livonia congressman, blaming him for the petition snafu that put a safe GOP seat at risk.
A weekend mutiny by Oakland Republicans fizzled Monday when mortgage attorney David Trott abandoned a short-lived plan to mount his own write-in campaign to challenge the one launched by McCotter.
Trott had lined up most of the county party's leadership, including Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who was angry at McCotter's failure to collect the 1,000 valid signatures necessary to secure a place on the ballot.
"That's an unforgivable screw-up," said Patterson. "I don't even know how it happens. It really puts us in a difficult position."
The money quote:
A top state Republican official put his chances of prevailing as a write-in candidate at "not good," and said if he doesn't prevail, a seat drawn with a 55 percent Republican advantage could fall to the Democrats.
Adding to the fun, today (Thursday), the
Detroit News reports that 2010 tea party fave rave, "Rocky" Raczkowski might jump in as a write-in candidate himself, which makes this statement take on extra meaning:
Fred Woodhams, spokesman for Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, said voters don't have to spell McCotter's name precisely for their vote to be counted. The voter's intention has to be clear, he said.
"The candidate's full legal name is not necessary so 'Thad McCotter' is acceptable as are similar versions as long as the intention of the voter is not in doubt," he told The Detroit News Tuesday morning.
Yeah, if he does decide to run, Mr. Raczkowski had better hope that they're VERY lenient with the spelling, I'd say...
Which leads to Dr. Syed Taj, former chief of medicine at Oakwood Hospital, Canton Township Trustee and all around good egg.
Here's his bio and rationale for running, straight from his campaign site:
Born and raised in India, I left my home in the 1970’s to obtain my post graduate training in medicine in Great Britain. In 1982 my wife, Sofia and I moved to Michigan to join her relatives and begin a new life. I began my career as a medical resident and worked my way up to become the Chief of Medicine at Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center in Dearborn.
My wife, Sofia, my son, Asad and I live in the home we built in Canton. My wife is an accomplished artist, Urdu author and poet and my son is studying hard at the University of Michigan in preparation for medical school next year. I am extremely proud of my family.
Spending my entire adult life as a physician, I have become increasingly frustrated with a lack of a clear understanding of today’s issues facing our families and our country. So I decided to run for Canton Township Trustee in 2008, where I became the first elected Democrat in recent times to the board. My trustee position has given me the great opportunity to listen and work with the community and serve on the board of directors of the Canton Community Foundation and the Wayne County Senior Alliance with a personal goal to enhance the quality of life for Canton residents. While serving as a trustee, I worked with my colleagues in a bi-partisan manner to aggressively attract businesses, lowered the personal property tax and offset the rising cost of water for our township.
Let me tell you why I decided to run for Congress. I have been very fortunate to be able to provide for my family and put my son through college. However, many of my patients and constituents are not as fortunate and although they are hard working, skilled individuals they are unable to find work due to Michigan’s high unemployment. As a small business owner, I understand how jobs are created and I will work with the private sector to bring good paying jobs to Michigan.
Check him out and
show him some love, willya?