Hey, turn about is fair play!! LOL!! Who says that the ReBumLiCans can have all the fun when it comes to "ethics" problems. Have a look at these two Dumb-O-Crats. Michigan politics looks more like Chicago's every day!!
Michael McGuinness and Jason Bauer both stood mute at an arraignment this morning before Oakland County Circuit Court Judge James Alexander. The pair were charged under a one-man grand jury convened last fall to investigate claims that phony candidates were trying to get on the ballot to split the Republican vote to help Democrats win.
The charges remained under seal this morning, though Chief Deputy Prosecutor Paul Walton asked the judge to assign file numbers to them indicating they are felonies. Walton said he planned to approach Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Edward Sosnick, who served as the one-man grand jury, to unseal the charges.
Walton said he couldn’t discuss the charges until Sosnick agreed to unseal them.
Alexander entered not-guilty pleas for both men and released them on personal bond. At Walton’s request, the men were ordered to report to the Oakland County Sheriff’s office for fingerprinting and photographing.
Both men declined comment after the proceedings.
The case came as the 2010 elections heated up and candidates from the tea party were trying to get on the ballot. State Republicans insisted the candidates were an effort to split their vote and throw close elections to the Democrats.
A Free Press investigation showed some ties between some of the tea party candidates and prominent Democrats.
At the time, Bauer was serving as operations director for the Oakland County Democratic Party and McGuinness served as chairman.
Bauer notarized 12 tea party candidate petitions, including at least one from a man who denied ever signing up to run for office.
It wasn’t Bauer’s first brush with controversy. He was suspended from his job a year earlier, when interns working for him submitted fake letters to Republicans on the Oakland County commission, urging them to support a plan by Democrats to provide more health insurance for poor residents. The letters were purportedly from a West Bloomfield mother and a retired GM worker who didn't have insurance. Several party members said Bauer should have been fired.
McGuinness was seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party. After becoming politically active as a student at Oakland University, he ran Andy Meisner’s successful 2008 campaign for Oakland County treasurer and served as a consultant briefly on the Secretary of State candidacy of Jocelyn Benson. He became chairman of the Oakland County Democrats, replacing County Commissioner Dave Woodward, who was credited with engineering substantial inroads for Democrats in the historically Republican county.
McGuinness is represented by Detroit lawyer John Allen. Bauer is represented by attorney Michael Dezsi, a former member of Geoffrey Fieger’s firm who worked on the federal election cases against Fieger.
Legendary trial lawyer Gerry Spence tried the case for Fieger and won an acquittal.
2 ex-top Oakland County Dems arraigned in tea party ballot flap | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
2 ex-top Oakland County Dems arraigned in tea party ballot flap
Michael McGuinness and Jason Bauer both stood mute at an arraignment this morning before Oakland County Circuit Court Judge James Alexander. The pair were charged under a one-man grand jury convened last fall to investigate claims that phony candidates were trying to get on the ballot to split the Republican vote to help Democrats win.
The charges remained under seal this morning, though Chief Deputy Prosecutor Paul Walton asked the judge to assign file numbers to them indicating they are felonies. Walton said he planned to approach Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Edward Sosnick, who served as the one-man grand jury, to unseal the charges.
Walton said he couldn’t discuss the charges until Sosnick agreed to unseal them.
Alexander entered not-guilty pleas for both men and released them on personal bond. At Walton’s request, the men were ordered to report to the Oakland County Sheriff’s office for fingerprinting and photographing.
Both men declined comment after the proceedings.
The case came as the 2010 elections heated up and candidates from the tea party were trying to get on the ballot. State Republicans insisted the candidates were an effort to split their vote and throw close elections to the Democrats.
A Free Press investigation showed some ties between some of the tea party candidates and prominent Democrats.
At the time, Bauer was serving as operations director for the Oakland County Democratic Party and McGuinness served as chairman.
Bauer notarized 12 tea party candidate petitions, including at least one from a man who denied ever signing up to run for office.
It wasn’t Bauer’s first brush with controversy. He was suspended from his job a year earlier, when interns working for him submitted fake letters to Republicans on the Oakland County commission, urging them to support a plan by Democrats to provide more health insurance for poor residents. The letters were purportedly from a West Bloomfield mother and a retired GM worker who didn't have insurance. Several party members said Bauer should have been fired.
McGuinness was seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party. After becoming politically active as a student at Oakland University, he ran Andy Meisner’s successful 2008 campaign for Oakland County treasurer and served as a consultant briefly on the Secretary of State candidacy of Jocelyn Benson. He became chairman of the Oakland County Democrats, replacing County Commissioner Dave Woodward, who was credited with engineering substantial inroads for Democrats in the historically Republican county.
McGuinness is represented by Detroit lawyer John Allen. Bauer is represented by attorney Michael Dezsi, a former member of Geoffrey Fieger’s firm who worked on the federal election cases against Fieger.
Legendary trial lawyer Gerry Spence tried the case for Fieger and won an acquittal.
2 ex-top Oakland County Dems arraigned in tea party ballot flap | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
