Too clever by half?
Michigan’s fake “Tea Party” operation (background here, if you need it) seems to have stumbled in its attempt to deceive voters in November.
They, where ‘they’ means Democrats to an extent still being determined, can’t run on their own ideas and platforms so they have to be dishonest about who they are. Fortunately, they appear less than competent at it.
From The Detroit News: GOP lawyers join in as battle of tea parties heats up
[Oakland] County [Democratic] party Chairman Mike McGuinness said operations director Jason Bauer may have crossed the line when he notarized many of the affidavits filed by 23 candidates trying to get on the November ballot as members of the newly formed Tea Party. Some of them filed in what are expected to be close congressional or state legislative races.
“May have” crossed the line? At best he betrayed the Democrats, at worst he revealed Democrats are connected to the plot. But it gets worse: Many of the affidavits appear to have been notarized before the MIchurian candidates were even nominated: Tea Party Candidate Identity Statements Could Be Invalid
The mysterious Tea Party candidates could face legal challenges because many of the candidates appear to have filled out their affidavits saying they accepted the party nomination before the convention was held, one election expert said.
Of the 20 affidavits reviewed by Michigan Capitol Confidential, all but one was signed before the reported July 24 date of the Tea Party Convention in Saginaw.
The Affidavit of Identity and Receipt of Filing has a section that asks the filer to acknowledge by checking a box that they have “certification of party nomination and certification of acceptance.”
Since candidates are nominated at the party convention, a candidate couldn’t check that box until after nominated.
If, as seems likely, the affidavits notarized by Jason Bauer are some of the same ones signed before the events being affirmed had occurred, what are the consequences for his public notary license?
Incompetence Update: 1:45PM
Two Michigan Tea Party Candidates Removed from Ballot Because They are Under Age 21