Traverse City Record-Eagle

Michigan

Related Photos

  • Thaddeus McCotter waves to the crowd after speaking at the Iowa Republican Party's Straw Poll, in Ames, Iowa. The Associated Press/Charlie Neibergall

    CSS59C2.jpg
July 7, 2012

McCotter resigns after failing to get on ballot

BY JOHN FLESHER, Associated Press ----

TRAVERSE CITY — U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan resigned Friday, capping a bizarre political downfall that started after his campaign failed to submit enough valid petition signatures to get him on the ballot for re-election.

The five-term Republican from the Detroit suburb of Livonia had only token opposition for his party's nomination and likely would have had little trouble defeating a Democrat in his GOP-leaning district. But the fiasco with the signatures led him to abandon his candidacy last month.

McCotter, 46, said then that he couldn't do his job, help with the investigation into what happened with the signatures and run for re-election. On Friday, he said the "nightmarish" experience, with its "calumnies, indignities and deceits," had made it impossible to remain in office and meet his family's needs.

He said his priorities now would be finding other employment and helping the state attorney general's office investigate the faulty petition filings.

McCotter ran a little-noticed campaign for president in 2011 before dropping out to seek re-election to Congress.

His staff turned in 2,000 signatures supporting his candidacy, twice as many as needed to be eligible for the Aug. 7 primary ballot. But 80 percent were found to be fake or duplicates.

McCotter initially said he would conduct a write-in campaign but eventually dropped the effort. An attorney, he was first elected to the House in 2003 after serving as a state senator and county commissioner.

"We wish Congressman McCotter and his family the best and thank him for his service to the state," said Matt Frendewey, spokesman for the Michigan GOP.

McCotter's exit left Kerry Bentivolio, a Vietnam War veteran, teacher and beekeeper from Milford, as the only Republican on the primary ballot for Michigan's 11th District, which covers suburban areas of Wayne and Oakland counties outside Detroit. Former state Sen. Nancy Cassis, of Novi, is running as a write-in candidate.

Two Wayne County residents, William Roberts, of Redford Township, and Oakwood Hospital chief of medicine Taj Syed, of Canton Township, are seeking the Democratic nomination.

Text Only