Bad Day For Democratic Politicians In Michigan

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS.

What do you call a former mayor who ran an organized crime ring in his office and a state supreme court justice convicted of bank fraud?  Why Democrats, of course.

From the Detroit Free Press:

Closing out its case against former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and two others, the federal government today unleashed a barrage of text messages and secret phone recordings as a sort of exclamation point on its claim that an organized crime ring ran the mayor’s office. [more]

From myfoxdetroit.com:

DETROIT (WJBK) -- Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway entered the federal courthouse innocently enough, but left a convicted felon.  She took a plea to bank fraud.

Here's the deal.  She will spend up to 18 months in a federal prison.  She will pay up to $90,000 in restitution, and she will pay a fine of approximately $30,000.  After that, she'll spend three to five years on supervised probation, and all the other charges against her will be dismissed.

"This is a crime that spanned almost two years, and so for a very serious, well thought out crime like that, I think it's important that the public see that people at the highest levels of government are held accountable," said U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade. [more]

No surprise, of course.

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New Government Conspiracy: Climate Change

SEARCH BLOG: GLOBAL WARMING.

For those of you who still believe there is honor among thieves, you'll be pleased with the government's latest attempt to find a crisis that requires a tax.  If a corporation keeps two sets of books with the intent to mislead the public for financial gain, that would be fraud.  If the government does the same thing, that would be protecting us from global warming; aka climate change.

Anthony Watts examined the weather data published by the government and found... 2 sets of books!  One for claiming that the U.S. was experiencing record warmth... that's to support EPA mandates and potentially a carbon tax... and the other record... the real record that shows no such records.

If you have any interest in the lengths to which global warming believers will go to "prove" their position, you ought to read this:

Does NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) keep two separate sets of climate books for the USA?

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Democratic Ethics - What's That?

SEARCH BLOG: GOVERNMENT.

You get the government you deserve.  Apparently, if you are a Democrat, you are comfortable with a government that continues to spend money it doesn't have.  In fact, you are so comfortable with that idea that you elect someone who personally does that in the conduct of his own business.

Ethics are defined by WIIFM - what's in it for me?

From the Detroit Free Press:

Will felon Brian Banks face challenge to being seated in Michigan Legislature? 

When the state Legislature convenes Wednesday, one new member could face a challenge to being seated.

Brian Banks, a Harper Woods Democrat, is an eight-time felon convicted of a series of financial crimes, including writing bad checks and credit card fraud between 1998 and 2004. ... 

"The voters of District 1 have spoken," Banks said Friday. "They're aware of my past. I look forward to being seated on Wednesday." 

Banks said earlier that he is a changed man since he was last convicted of a felony more than eight years ago.

Asked about reports of more bounced checks on Harper Woods rental properties as recently as the last 12 months, which resulted in civil litigation, Banks said: "All issues have been addressed." 

 Democratic ethics - a classic non-sequitur.

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Killing Children In The U.S.

SEARCH BLOG: MURDER.

From The Huffington Post:

In 2011, guns were used to murder 8,583 people living in the U.S., according to the most recent FBI data available. Among those murdered by guns, there were 565 young people under the age of 18, and 119 children ages 12 or younger -- the latter number nearly equivalent to six Newtown mass shootings. And these figures include only homicides.

From NBC News:

Nearly all states report abortion numbers to the federal government, but it's voluntary. A few states — including California, which has the largest population and largest number of abortion providers — don't send in data. Experts believe there are more than 1 million abortions performed nationwide each year, but because of the incomplete reporting, the CDC had reports of about 785,000 in 2009.

So, let's put that into perspective.  In the U.S. there are over 1,000 times more children's lives extinguished by abortion than homicide and guess what "progressives" and "liberals" want banned?

[source]

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U.S. Voters: Were 51% Fooled All Of The Time?

SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA and GOVERNMENT.

You can't fool all of the people all of the time - Abraham Lincoln.  But President Obama has learn how to fool enough of the people all of the time... with the help of some very accommodating media types... to get re-elected and continue his course toward a shipwrecked America... or "cliff-wrecked" America if you choose. [image.]

Those who were not fooled can hardly have the satisfaction of saying "I told you so" because there is no satisfaction where we are headed.  The stock market has fallen over 7% in one month.  For you union types, that means your pension funds have taken a nasty hit... which you are cheering on because in your minds that hurts "Wall Street."  The GOP is making nice with the president.  For you conservatives, that means 4 more years of the 4 years just finished.  The EPA and courts are playing havoc with the energy market which means that 100% of the voters will face significantly higher energy costs over the next four years.

How could those 51%-ers have voted for the captain of the shipwreck?  Victor Hansen at the National Review has his own thesis on that score.

Coincidentally, right after the election we heard that Iran had attacked a U.S. drone in international waters. [so much for negotiating with our best new friends in the Middle East]

Coincidentally, we just learned that new food-stamp numbers were “delayed” and that millions more became new recipients in the months before the election. [so much for those three "summers of recovery".]

Coincidentally, we now gather that the federal relief effort following Hurricane Sandy was not so smooth, even as New Jersey governor Chris Christie and Barack Obama high-fived it. Instead, in Katrina-like fashion, tens of thousands are still without power or shelter two weeks after the storm.  [so much for the new and improved version of federal government.]

Coincidentally, we now learn that Obama’s plan of letting tax rates increase for the “fat cat” 2 percent who make over $250,000 a year would not even add enough new revenue to cover 10 percent of the annual deficit. How he would get the other 90 percent in cuts, we are never told. [so much for "fair sharing".]

Coincidentally, we now learn that the vaunted DREAM Act would at most cover only about 10 percent to 20 percent of illegal immigrants. As part of the bargain, does Obama have a post-election Un-DREAM Act to deport the other 80 percent who do not qualify since either they just recently arrived in America, are not working, are not in school or the military, are on public assistance, or have a criminal record?  [so much for addressing the "social justice" issue of not enforcing our sovereign borders.]

Coincidentally, now that the election is over, the scandal over the killings of Americans in Libya seems warranted because of the abject failure to heed pleas for more security before the attack and assistance during it. And the scandal is about more than just the cover-up of fabricating an absurd myth of protesters mad over a two-month-old video — just happening to show up on the anniversary of 9/11 with machine guns and rockets. [so much for truth.]

"Coincidentally" is the conglomeration of  a variety of left-leaning media spinners that found it convenient to distort or delay news that might have been considered less-than-desirable despite their actions being less-than-truthful or less-than-ethical.

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.

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Obama: S**t Just Happens

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This just happens to pull together all of Obama's s**t...  via The Western Center For Journalism:

2012 IS HERE

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Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett, Slum Cities, And "Sustainable Communities"

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Most of you have learned about how Obama's free phone scam has benefitted his buddies who bundled campaign contributions.  Oh, you haven't.  Well, read here.  But that's small potatoes.

Let's talk about "communities" and real money.

Obama's Housing Agency Spending Millions to Transform Inner Cities Into ‘Sustainable Communities’.

(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration’s effort to create government-sanctioned “sustainable communities” moved ahead this week, with the announcement of almost $5 million in planning grants.

Seventeen poor communities across the U.S. will share the $4.95 million to draft plans for the “next generation" of public housing and other "sustainable" neighborhood improvements, such as better schools, anti-crime efforts, and greater access to health care and grocery stores. [read more]

That sounds good.  We're going to fix up rotten neighborhoods with the "next generation" of public housing... which has had such a great track record.

Let's look at part of that track record.

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents linking Valerie Jarrett, an advisor to Barack Obama and the co-chairman of the President-Elect’s transition team, to a series of real estate scandals, including several housing projects operated by convicted felon and Obama fundraiser/friend Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

According to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch from the Illinois Secretary of State, Valerie Jarrett served as a board member for several organizations that provided funding and support for Chicago housing projects operated by real estate developers and Obama financial backers Rezko and Allison Davis. (Davis is also Obama’s former boss.) Jarrett was a member of the Board of Directors for the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corporation along with several Davis and Rezko associates, as well as the Fund for Community Redevelopment and Revitalization, an organization that worked with Rezko and Davis. [more]

You know now who Valarie Jarrett is, don't you?

Rod Blagojevich’s onetime chief of staff, John Harris, testified about negotiations between his former boss and President Barack Obama to fill the U.S. Senate seat once held by the commander-in-chief.  Obama’s top aide, Rahm Emanuel, called Harris in 2008 to suggest the then-governor appoint Obama’s close friend Valerie Jarrett, according to Harris’s testimony. Harris was the second witness to take the stand in Blagojevich’s corruption retrial, which is taking place in the same Chicago federal court where he was tried last year. [more]

But she didn't become senator.  No, here is what happened to her.

White House: She receives more protection than our Libyan ambassador, calls the president by his first name, dines and vacations with the First Family and had the power to call off three strikes against Osama bin Laden.

Ambassador Chris Stevens did not have a Marine detail in Benghazi, Libya. But White House senior adviser and Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett reportedly had a full Secret Service detail on vacation in Martha's Vineyard. [more]

So, what do you think the chances are that this former slumlord, close friend of corrupt Chicago Obama backers, presently the "Rasputin of the White House," will find a way to profit from this "Sustainable Communities" program?  Just asking.

2012 IS HERE

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The Catholic Church And The Affordable Care Act

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Catholics continue to anguish over the provisions of the Affordable Care Act that require Catholic schools, universities, charities, and hospitals... and any other Catholic organization that is not directly part of a church... to provide insurance coverage for contraception, abortions and sterilizations.

My sister-in-law is a devout Catholic and sends me links to the debate raging inside the Church.  This is the latest article that discusses the not-so-great options that the Catholic Church has regarding these issues.

A Mandate to Disobey

Thomas Joseph White and R. R. Reno

The Affordable Care Act mandates that employers offer and individuals buy insurance that provides free contraceptives, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization. It seems we have passed from a society that allows legal access to these drugs and services to one that insists that they must be free, subsidized by everyone’s insurance premiums. Catholics and others are no longer being asked to tolerate what we believe to be wrong; now we must participate. [read the full article]

I'm not a Catholic and have, at times, been at odds with the practices of that church.  But I understand the conundrum of being faced with mandates that are diametrically opposed to one's faith and principles and having... apparently... no good option to fight it.

My response to my sister-in-law was this:

Seems simple. Close all Catholic schools, universities, hospitals, and charities for one month and direct all students and patients to go to public counterparts. The strain on the public system will be overwhelming. Then Catholic officials can go public with the reason: the ACA requires Catholic organizations to violate their faith and principles. The organizations will re-open when declared exempt from those ACA requirements. 

A tough and costly sacrifice for the faith. But an effective one I'll wager. 

If the Catholic Church is really concerned about the tenets of its faith being compromised by the ACA, then a real sacrifice in defense of that faith is appropriate.  Were the Catholic Church to merely announce that it was taking these actions, there would emergency meetings in Congress and throughout the United States trying to figure out how to deal with profound public crisis.

The exemptions to the ACA would be forthcoming... immediately.

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Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] Sued

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The EPA does many questionable things and, in the name of protecting us, subjects us to many economic risks.  But who knew the EPA was in the business of experimenting on humans with toxins and carcinogins... and not even informing their "test subjects" what was occurring!

From Steven Milloy via Anthony Watts:

Major Landmark lawsuit filed against the EPA for immoral illegal human experimentation

This is just one more unethical, immoral, and in this case illegal, action undertaken by the Obama administration in the name of going "Forward."  It seems abortion can now take place any time between conception and old age.

The replacement of the stars and stripes with this is more than symbolic.

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
George Orwell, "1984", first sentence

2012 IS HERE

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Top Obama Cabinet Member Sued Over Sexual Harrassment

SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA.

It may not be as serious [to the Democratic Party controlled press] as Rep. Akin's gaffe about rape, but this interesting exclusive recently popped up its ugly head.  Wonder why there is no outcry.

EXCLUSIVE: Top NY Homeland Security Cop Sues Napolitano; Alleges Obama DHS Officials’ Anti-Straight Discrimination, Demands for Oral Sex – “J-No Appointed Lesbian Girlfriend, ICE Chief of Staff Harassed Male Agents”

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What We Would Like To Hear: I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours

SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA and ROMNEY

President Obama and candidate Mitt Romney apparently like their privacy.  President Obama wants Mitt Romney to open his tax filings for scrutiny... even though the IRS can do that anytime.

I think Mitt Romney should make this offer to President Obama: I'll reveal my tax filings if you reveal your sealed records... from your various levels of education... and your social security cards... and your original birth certificate.

That seems fair, eh?  Give up a little privacy for public examination.

UPDATE:

Apparently, I'm not alone.

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Welcome To Obama's Enemies List

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What's next, Kristallnacht?

2012 IS HERE

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Who Yo Daddy?

SEARCH BLOG: SOCIETY

From The New York Times:

It is an uncomfortable question that, in today’s world, is often asked by expectant mothers who had more than one male partner at the time they became pregnant. Who is the father?

With more than half of births to women under 30 now out of wedlock, it is a question that may arise more often. 

Now blood tests are becoming available that can determine paternity as early as the eighth or ninth week of pregnancy, without an invasive procedure that could cause a miscarriage. 

Besides relieving anxiety, the test results might allow women to terminate a pregnancy if the preferred man is not the father — or to continue it if he is. [read more]

 Now let's take 3 seconds to examine this:

1. 1/2 the women under 30-years old have children out of wedlock.  Let's hear a big cheer for women's liberation!
2. A big question that may bother some of these women is... who is the father?
3. Now the "problem" can be "solved" with a blood test... problem = baby; solved = abortion. [image]

Let's take 3 more seconds to re-examine this:

1. 1/2 the women under 30-years old have less personal morals and responsibility than a chicken.
2. A big question that may bother some of these women is whether to lay their eggs, sell them to the state for support, or crack them.
3. Now the "problem" can be "solved" by determining if one of the roosters with which they were copulating is still around to help collect welfare.

It's not the economy, stupid.  It's the stupid people who are a drain on the economy.

Okay, okay... some women just can't find a man who will stay with them and some just don't want a man to stay with them.  A baby solves all of their problems.

2012 IS HERE

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Term Limits Are Needed

SEARCH BLOG: GOVERNMENT and ETHICS

Sen. Harry Reid reminds me of a character in Vince Flynn's "Term Limits."  While he yells about the U.S. Olympic Committee buying uniforms made in China, he supports a Chinese solar panel manufacturer for which his son acts as a lobbyist ... despite the fact that he supposedly supported the $.5 billion loan to U.S. solar panel maker, Solyndra, which just happen to go bankrupt and which was financially backed by an Obama campaign bundler, George Kaiser.

Sen. Reid represents all that is wrong in the U.S. government [along with his compatriot Rep. Nancy Pelosi].  They pander while being the most two-faced specimens imaginable.

Vince Flynn's book quoted Thomas Jefferson:

"Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [i.e., securing inherent and inalienable rights, with powers derived from the consent of the governed], it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." --Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence, 1776. ME 1:29, Papers 1:315 [source]

There is little doubt that Thomas Jefferson would have been speaking directly about Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi had he had the chance.  He would have approved of term limits for them.

“This is my last political campaign…I’m term limited,” he said Saturday at Centreville High School in Clifton, Virginia in remarks that were similar to others he’s delivered in recent weeks. -- President Barack Obama [source]

I suspect Vince Flynn's fictional Rep. Michael O'Roarke might have felt comfortable with term limits for Harry and Nancy.  But we would be happy if they simply didn't run again.  Fat chance.  Still too much pork to barbecue.

2012 IS HERE

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Your (Free) Tax Dollars At Work

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This is another example of how your federal government takes an idea and makes it a nightmare for taxpayers.

h/t: John F.

2012 IS HERE

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Penn State And Joe Paterno Internal Report On Jerry Sandusky Sex Abuse

SEARCH BLOG: ETHICS

Many people will be saddened and disappointed that "Papa" Joe Paterno did not take action to have Jerry Sandusky arrested for his sexual abuse of young men and children.  According to this report, those people should be angry:

PHILADELPHIA -- Joe Paterno and other top Penn State officials hushed up child sex abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky more than a decade ago for fear of bad publicity, allowing Sandusky to prey on other youngsters, according to a scathing internal report issued Thursday on the scandal. 

"Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State," said Louis Freeh, the former director of the FBI who was hired by university trustees to look into what has become one of sports' biggest scandals. "The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized." 

After an eight-month inquiry, Freeh's firm produced a 267-page report that concluded that Hall of Fame coach Paterno, President Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz "failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade." 

Freeh called the officials' disregard for child victims "callous and shocking." [full article]

There is no positive spin on can put on this.  Penn State's reputation has been severely tarnished.

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Science-Corrupted-By-Politics Alive In California

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Earlier this week the story of Dr. Nickolas Drapela broke.  Dr. Drapela was fired from Oregon State University after being a thorn in the politics of the climate agenda at OSU.

Oregon State University Fires Scientist For Being An Unbeliever

Now, Anthony Watts reports an even more egregious firing of a 35-year university professor at UCLA.

Another skeptical university professor fired – related to CARB’s PM2.5 air pollution regulation scandal

“The facts of this case are astounding,” said David French, senior counsel for the ACLJ. “UCLA terminated a professor after 35 years of service simply because he exposed the truth about an activist scientific agenda that was not only based in fraud but violated California law for the sake of imposing expensive new environmental regulations on California businesses.”   

French said, “UCLA’s actions were so extreme that its own Academic Freedom Committee unanimously expressed its concern about the case.”  [read the whole story at the link above]

Other than a couple of professors who had their careers ruined, what's the problem?  Well, how about billions of taxpayer dollars being funneled into onerous and unnecessary special interests?

If there was any doubt that honesty and integrity have been eliminated from the progressive-environmental left-wing academia, these attempts to squash scientific-based challenges should put those doubts to rest.

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Unions To Target Michigan

SEARCH BLOG: ECONOMY and GOVERNMENT

From Reason:

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder followed labor’s preferred course—and labor leaders are not sparing him.

Like Walker, Snyder confronted a massive—$2 billion —shortfall and demanded that public employees pick up 20 percent of the tab for their health care benefits. Like Walker, he reformed teacher tenure laws, giving schools more flexibility to recruit and promote good teachers. And like Walker, he ended automatic union-dues deductions from teacher paychecks. 

Unlike Walker, however, Snyder did not launch a wholesale attack on the collective bargaining powers of all public unions, taking a more conciliatory approach. He even scolded his fellow Republicans who wanted to use their control of all branches of government to make Michigan a Right to Work state, no longer requiring private-sector workers to pay mandatory union dues as a condition of employment.

To better appreciate this issue, you need to understand the tactics that unions are using to fill their coffers at the expense of the State and service providers.  From the Mackinac Center For Public Policy:

MIDLAND — Michigan’s 60,000 home health care aides should no longer have so-called union dues skimmed from their subsidy checks as a result of an informal but binding opinion letter issued today by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette. The opinion was issued in response to a request by Rep. Paul Opsommer, R-DeWitt, six weeks after Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation ending the stealth unionization. The Service Employees International Union has taken some $30 million from the state’s most vulnerable residents over the last six years, including more than $680,000 since the scheme was outlawed. 

“This episode demonstrates how government-sector unions often act in ways that benefit themselves at the cost of taxpayers and their shanghaied members,” said Mackinac Center Legal Foundation Director Patrick J. Wright. “The independent contractors and family members who provide aid to the developmentally disabled were never government employees and should not have been paying dues in the first place.” 

The SEIU was able to skim the so-called “dues” under a scheme that was concocted during the administration of Gov. Jennifer Granholm. An interlocal agreement between the Department of Community Health and the Tri-County Aging Consortium allowed for the creation of the Michigan Quality Community Care Council, which served as the shell employer for people who are actually self-employed independent contractors or, overwhelmingly, family members caring for loved ones.

Yup, you got it.  Independent service contractors... self-employed people, not state employees... who received money from the state for services were forced to pay dues to a union through automatic deductions for "representation" that 1) most were not aware of and 2) that did absolutely nothing except skim money off the top.  $30,000,000 worth of skimming for nothing.  And they continued to take the money even after legislation prohibiting such practices was signed into legislation!  Yup, you got it.  The law meant nothing to the "union."

That's the nature of unionism in Michigan.

Before you start to equate the Wisconsin issues with Michigan's, you should remember that Walker's approach was far more heavy-handed and to some extent, as discussed in previous posts, wenT too far.  That has not been the case with Gov. Snyder.

RELATED:

Conservative Principles Or Unprincipled Conservatives

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McCotter Plays The Blues

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Thaddeus McCotter has been in the Michigan and national news for the past week.  Rep. McCotter of Livonia, a Detroit suburb, became somewhat known nationally for his attempt to be recognized as a viable presidential candidate.  He is also known as a guitar playing congressman who shows up at events and jams with bands.  His acerbic wit and droll manner are his trademark.

Thaddeus McCotter is a smart man, but he or his staff made an extremely stupid move by trying to file for the Michigan primary with a petition containing fake signatures.  I'm going to give Rep. McCotter the benefit of the doubt and say that this probably was the result of a staff mess-up.  The filing deadline was probably looming and the petition most likely was simply forgotten until the last minute.  Then panic set in and the fake signatures were used in an effort to meet the deadline.  There is no doubt that the popular representative could have easily gotten the necessary number of signatures to file a legitimate petition, but this was a case of leaving on vacation and forgetting the dog... a simple, big screw-up.

From the Detroit Free Press:

"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. 

"We will review information provided by the Secretary of State and determine whether additional action is warranted," said Joy Yearout, spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill Schuette.

From NPR:

McCotter claims he was duped, but also says he accepts responsibility for what happened. He says he wants the Michigan attorney general to investigate, and he will run as a write-in candidate. There is already another Republican candidate on the ballot, so McCotter will have to get more people to write in his name. 

Elections experts says that's a big hurdle. 

"I think it's doable, but he's got a lot of work to do, and I think he knows that," says Michigan Republican Party Chairman Bobby Schostack. "We at the state party will support whoever it is that wins the primary.

This is one of those career-killer moments.  We'll be watching how this plays out.

UPDATE:

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Will Sec. Of Energy Steven Chu Repay The Money Solyndra Owes Taxpayers?

SEARCH BLOG: ENERGY and SCAMS

From the website of Rep. Morgan Griffith:

morgangriffith.house.gov

Morgan Griffith
Contact: Maggie Seidel (202) 225-3861 


Solyndra Money Burned 


Washington, Mar 8 - 

Congressman Morgan Griffith released the following statement after questioning Secretary of Energy Steven Chu at today’s Energy and Power hearing on the President’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget request for the Department of Energy (DOE):

“When most of the members were loading up their cars and heading home, the Energy and Power Subcommittee met again to finish its hearing with Secretary Chu.  With no Democrats returning for the hearing, and most of the major media gone, Secretary Chu was forced to admit that at the time of the subordination of the loan guarantee to Solyndra the cost of producing Solyndra’s solar panels was greater than the retail price of the competing Chinese product.  Remember, subordination saw private financiers or investors illegally put in front of U.S. taxpayers as creditors if Solyndra were to go bankrupt, as it did in August.

“In light of Secretary Chu admitting this was a fact, it is clear that the Administration knew - or should have known - that there was no chance of ever recovering the $170 million* they put at risk by subordinating the loan.  DOE was fully aware that the Solyndra business model could not compete with the Chinese.  Secretary Chu, DOE, and President Obama took a risky gamble when they lent $535 million to Solyndra.  But, when they agreed to the subordination of $75 million** they lit a match to America money because the chance of full recovery was zero percent.  Unfortunately, the American taxpayers are left holding the ashes.”

*$170 million is the $75 million subordinated plus the final installments of the loan guarantee – $95 million.
**On February 18, 2011, $75 million was subordinated. When DOE originally started negotiating subordination they had not yet given Solyndra the last $95 million of the loan guarantee.

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