The dominoes are still falling. What started out as a case of notary fraud has turned into a brewing (insert Tea Party pun here) controversy. Last week, Oakland County Michigan Clerk Ruth Johnson uncovered a fraudulent Tea Party candidate filing for county commissioner under the name of Aaron William Tyler. The filing was notarized by Jason Bauer, an Oakland County Democratic Party staffer. Well, it turns out that Tyler never filed to run for office and never signed a thing. Doh! Two other filings are also in question and Bauer's name was on a dozen Tea Party affidavits. On Sunday, Bauer resigned.Then, Oakland County officials claimed the director of the county's Democratic Party may have committed crimes in connection with notarizing petitions. Double Doh! On Tuesday, the county party chairman Mike McGuinness abruptly resigned, citing a new professional opportunity (is that what we're calling the unemployment line now a days?). And now, County Executive L. Brooks Patterson is seeking a grand jury investigation. Possible crimes include perjury, election fraud, misconduct in office, uttering and/or publishing and obstruction of justice.
Casting further doubt on what appears to be a fake Tea Party, petitions were circulated by a firm that has been used in the past by the Democratic Party, filed using the services of a Lansing attorney with ties to the Democratic Party, and is apparently chaired by Mark Steffek, a former UAW steward.
Update 09/08/2010: Oakland County grand jury to investigate
No comments:
Post a Comment