Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Former High-Ranking Democratic Officials Charged With Wide Array of Fraudulent Election Documents

Two former high-ranking members of the Oakland County (Michigan) Democratic Party are facing election corruption charges in an alleged scheme to to trick Tea Party supporters to draw votes away from Republican candidates. Former Democratic Party Chairman Michael McGuinness and ex-operations director Jason Bauer were arraigned this week. The scheme described by prosecutors is quite bold . . . and reckless.


They are charged with creating false affidavits and documents to put candidates on the ballot. Some people were reportedly put up for office without their knowledge or consent.

The range of alleged false documents is quite remarkable. If true, it is a criminal enterprise that borders on an insane delusion. Particularly in this super-heated political environment, why would they believe they could get away with such false documents. It is not clear how they will address these charges and this is obviously a one-sided account. Notably, however, they do not appear to have entered a plea. The court entered a not guilty plea for them.

Source: Detroit News found on Reddit.

Jonathan Turley

27 thoughts on “Former High-Ranking Democratic Officials Charged With Wide Array of Fraudulent Election Documents”

  1. From eniobob and Otteray Scribe’s links:

    “The whole purpose of the open meeting law, which implements constitutional mandates, is to provide notice to the public so that they can participate in governmental affairs. The GOP took several measures that not only violated this law but were intended to subvert democracy.”

    It has been my experience over the years and through my work on the LWV, that politicians fail to recognize the importance of “Sunshine Laws” (Open Meetings Law) until it smacks them in the face. These “Laws” have been around forever and there is a great deal of “Case Law” decided over decades thanks mainly to News Organizations demanding access to the legislative decision making process.

  2. This is a bit OT for this thread, but I could not find anywhere else to put it:

    GetEQUAL activists who chained themselves to the White House fence to protest “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in November, were scheduled to face charges today that they violated the orders of a federal law enforcement officer, charges which carry a maximum six month jail sentence. The unprecedented severity of these charges made some speculate that the government was trying to make an example of the 13 activists.

    The judge was not buying it. To put it in the vernacular, he tore the prosecutor a new one while giving an epic rant.

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/18/957731/-Judge-to-Government:-WTF!

  3. RC,
    Great Arizona story. Let’s see how long it lasts. That legislature makes these two “asshats” look intelligent.

  4. As to the Michigan duo … I’ll combine two poster’s remarks … dumb asshats …

  8. so what else is new, dems stealing elections? been going on for years. They just hated Bush cause he beat them at their own game.

    And he actually had more votes in Florida than Gore did.

  9. James M,

    “What asshats”

    That’s a term I haven’t heard in a while – very appropriate

  10. What asshats. What were they thinking? I don’t want political friends like that.

  11. I was talking with someone in the know and they said that even though this is true…it is still a witch hunt as this is fertile GOP territory…..a lot of upscale management for the Big3….Then again…when the Big3 does not have US what do they have….

  12. “The scheme described by prosecutors is quite bold . . . and reckless.”

    I believe the term you were looking for is “dumb.”

  13. rcampbell,

    I’m willing to bet if 60 owners of mom & pop establishments had written the same letter, all five would have passed.

    At any rate, it appears that the teabaggers are finally smelling the coffee …

    ———————————————

    AY,

    Well, based on looks, neither looks very bright so I guess they take turns …

  15. Well, which is Tweedledee and which is Tweedledum….that is a good question….

    Apparently, OC is a GOP strong hold and all of the powers that be are….non partisan….GOP hacks….well at least the Judges are supposed to be….The rest is about as partisan as you can get…..

    They were dumb and got caught….will they plea to a lesser charge or is that is even offered is the question….

    Since this is a local (state) issue they at this time do not have to worry about Federal Charges….or do they…..sometimes they hit them with both…..and that has not been held a violation of DJ as it is two sovereigns….

  17. My apologies for being so off topic, but the AZ Senate did something incredible yesterday and I am compelled to pass it on.
    Five, count ’em, five anti-immigration bills were DEFEATED in the AZ Senate yesterday. They would have continued to pile on one draconian teabagger measure after another. The thing that has tipped the debate was a letter signed by 60 CEOs of AZ businesses laying out the economic damage done by SR 1070 and the extrememly negative light in which that bill has thrust AZ into. The boycotts have had an effect as has the recall effort against Brewer and a growing number of Arizonanas are getting pretty tired of the outrageous rhetoric of the extremists.

    Below is the opening paragraphs of the AZ Republic article:

    Arizona Senate rejects 5
    major immigration bills

    by Alia Beard Rau – Mar. 18, 2011 12:00 AM
    The Arizona Republic

    Arizona won’t be leading a national push for
    the U.S. Supreme Court to strip citizenship
    status from children of illegal immigrants –
    at least not this year.

    The state Senate voted down a package of
    birthright-citizenship bills, with Republicans
    split over the measures and Democrats
    opposed.

    Four other significant Senate immigration
    measures also failed. Those bills would have
    banned illegal immigrants from state
    universities, made it a crime for illegal
    immigrants to drive a vehicle in Arizona,
    required school districts to check the legal
    status of students, and required hospitals to
    check the legal status of patients.

    The debate Thursday was emotional on both
    sides.

    Although there is a slight chance that some
    of the measures could return this session as
    amendments to unrelated bills or that
    lawmakers could seek a revote, it seemed
    more likely that the issues would not return
    this legislative session or would go directly
    to voters.

  18. The question is – which of the two is Tweedledumb, and which is Tweedledumber?

  19. Stupid is as stupid does. What a pair of idiots. Michigan will be a better place when these two are behind bars.

  20. This incident would seem to validate the GOPs fearmongering about “election fraud”. I’ll bet they are delighted. This scheme, of course, has nothing to do with the “voter fraud” the GOP purports to be targeting. The measures they are proposing in state after state would, instead, reduce turnout by likely Democratic voters.

    BTW, how did Mr. Green get on the Senate ballot anyway. Any investigation into that?

Comments are closed.