Magic Frank: Official Village Idiot for the University of Michigan football program

by: Eric B.

Fri Jul 20, 2012 at 11:23:47 AM EDT

Let's quickly review the fallout from the Oakland County Democratic Party's fake Tea Party scandal: Jason Bauer, who carried out the thing, resigned and plead no contest to fraud charges, for which he received probation, a fine, and community service. Michael McGuinness resigned as chairman of the county party and plead no contest to fraud for which he received probation, community service and a fine. At the time of their sentencings, both were told by the judge that they'd done worse damage to themselves than the judge could have since both men's political careers ended.

This is useful information to keep in mind while reading rightwing reaction, particularly this morning's horror from Magic Frank, to Jase Bolger's involvement in an election rigging scheme with Roy Schmidt.

Brewer, Whitmer, et al, weren't looking for anyone's political scalp when Democratic leaders in Oakland County committed fraud and perjury when they forged the signatures of unwitting candidates to form a fake tea party slate in 2010, a scheme that resulted in criminal convictions.

Might be that neither Brewer nor Whitmer are members of the Oakland County Democratic Party. Might be that Jase Bolger is Speaker of the House of Representatives, a much more powerful political figure than the operations director of the Oakland County Democratic Party or even its chair, and a figure expected to hold to a higher standard. Might be that they didn't need to look for scalps, since those were pretty quickly collected. Might be that Magic Frank is full of shit, and not smart enough -- whether by crime of nature or willfulness on the part of the subject -- to discern the difference. Or this difference:

It's important to repeat that Bolger's involvement in the Schmidt race was not illegal, a not-insignificant distinction.

No, his involvement only embarrassed the Republican prosecutor who investigated the thing and said that the Legislature ought to act quickly to make what they did an actual crime.

Rich Robinson of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network has more in Dome Magazine. And, Jeff Wattrick has reaction from Goat Killer, who says that it's up to Jase Bolger's constituents to remove him from the office of House Speaker if they don't like him taking part in electioneering schemes. His real constituents as House Speaker, as Wattrick points out, would be Goat Killer and the rest of the GOP caucus.

By the way, this is how the rightwing media reaction to this scandal fleshes out the way the Party of Personal Responsibility approaches accountability among their own: The House Speaker, one of the three most important elected officials in the state of Michigan, should be held to a lower ethical and legal bar than county party apparatchiks who haven't been elected to any office.