Staff for former Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter allegedly dummied up more nominating petitions than first thought.
Nominating petitions for McCotter's elections did not have enough signatures to qualify to run in at least the 2008, 2010 and 2012 elections, the
Detroit Free Press reported.
The Michigan Secretary of State’s office discovered that of the more than 1,800 signatures turned in by the Republican's campaign for 2012, only 244 were valid. That led to McCotter's resignation from Congress in July. The revelations mark a stunning downfall for McCotter, who was a candidate in the GOP presidential primary race.
The petitions from McCotter's previous campaigns were uncovered this week by Practical Political Conuslting, a Michigan-based company that develpts voter lists for politicians.
"I started with 2010 and immediately thought, 'This is unbelievable,' " Jim Daggy, data archivist for the consulting firm, told the Free Press. "It was like a giant 100-foot sore thumb sticking out. My God, what were these people thinking?"
"It seems like at every election cycle, they expanded on what they had done and used some new tricks," Daggy said. "They just got more and more emboldened."
"It's a real punch in the gut, and I hope that voters out there are really watching and listening," Natalie Mosher, a Canton Democrat who lost to McCotter in 2010, told the paper. "I'm angry, because I think the voters of the district got taken for a ride by this guy."
Four of McCotter's staff members have been charged with a combined 13 felonies and 21 misdemeanors related to the fraudulent petitions.
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