Thaddeus George McCotter (born August 22, 1965) is an American politician, radio host, and a member of the Republican Party. He was the U.S. representative from from 2003 to 2012. The district at the time consisted of portions of Detroit's northwestern suburbs, such as Livonia, Westland and Novi. He was also a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in the 2012 election.
McCotter first entered politics in 1992 when he was elected to the Wayne County Commission. He then served in the Michigan Senate from 1999 to 2003. In 2002, McCotter was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. From July to September 2011, McCotter was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination for the 2012 race. After a last place finish in the Iowa Straw Poll in August and failing to secure a spot in the presidential debates, McCotter suspended his campaign.
After ending his presidential campaign, McCotter decided to run again for his seat in Congress, but he failed to qualify for the 2012 Republican primary in his congressional district after most of his petition signatures were rejected as invalid. McCotter himself was not suspected of wrongdoing, though several of his staffers were charged with duplicating signatures and other electoral crimes, and some convicted. McCotter later sued some of the perpetrators for damage to his reputation, but fallout from the ensuing scandal resulted in McCotter's resignation from Congress in July 2012.
Early life, education, and career McCotter was born in Detroit, Michigan, and is a 1983 graduate of Detroit Catholic Central High School in Redford. His mother, Georgia Joan McCotter, was the city clerk of Livonia. He received a B.A. from the University of Detroit in 1987 and a J.D. from the same school in 1990.
McCotter had a private law practice and was a Schoolcraft College trustee before being elected to the Wayne County Commission in 1992. While on the commission, he worked to change the county charter to require that new taxes require the approval of two-thirds of the Commission and 60% of voters.
McCotter was elected to the Michigan State Senate in 1998. As a state senator, he helped apportion the U.S. Congressional district from which he was subsequently elected in 2002.
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee assignments Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade
Party leadership and caucus memberships Congressional COPD Caucus House Sovereignty Caucus (co-founder) International Conservation Caucus Sportsmen's Caucus
Shortly before the midterm elections in November 2006, McCotter made a $250,000 contribution to the National Republican Congressional Committee. After the elections, when the Republicans became the minority party in the House of Representatives, McCotter was elected chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, the fifth-ranking post among House Republicans. The other Republican seeking the post was Congressman Darrell Issa of southern California.
Political positions McCotter was a member of both the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership and the conservative Republican Study Committee.
In May 2007, McCotter, along with 55 other Republicans, voted for a bill written by House Democrats aimed at stopping energy price gouging, against the wishes of House Minority Leader John Boehner, who labeled the bill "as pointless political pandering".
McCotter was a supporter of the United States' involvement in both the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War. In his 2011 book Seize Freedom!, he wrote that the wars "were never separate wars; they have always been battle theaters in the War for Freedom."Thad McCotter on War & Peace, On the Issues.
On September 22, 2008, McCotter became the first Republican in the House of Representatives to oppose the $700 billion Paulson bailout plan, calling it "American socialism". A week later, he and 132 other Republicans voted against the bill.
At the end of July 2009, McCotter introduced a bill to allow pet owners a $3,500 tax deduction for pet care costs.H.R.3501 – Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years (HAPPY) Act Bill Text 111th Congress (2009–2010) Library of Congress. The bill, called the Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years (HAPPY) Act, was criticized by Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center as "the poster puppy for all that is wrong with the tax code."Howard Gleckman, Happy Act: The Poster Puppy for What's Wrong with the Tax Code Tax Policy Center. December 1, 2009.
McCotter supported union-friendly measures including collective bargaining agreements for government jobs and card check, although he later said his vote for the so-called card check method was a mistake.Candidate profile: Michigan's Thaddeus McCotter keeps critics, allies guessing, Des Moines Register. August 4, 2011.
Political campaigns McCotter was elected in November 2002, defeating Democratic Candidate Kevin Kelley of Redford, to the 108th Congress. He was reelected in the 2004 Congressional elections. McCotter ran unopposed in the 2006 Republican primary. His opponent in the November 2006 general election was Democrat Tony Trupiano, a progressive radio talk show host from Dearborn Heights. McCotter, Trupiano, Libertarian Party nominee John Tatar, and U.S. Taxpayers Party nominee Charles Tackett met only once for a recorded League of Women Voters public forum in mid-October. In radio and direct-mail advertisements, McCotter criticized Trupiano's position on illegal immigration, and he was reelected with 55 percent of the vote.
In November 2008, McCotter defeated Democrat Joseph Larkin, Green Party candidate Erik Shelley, and Libertarian John Tatar. McCotter won 51 percent of the vote to Larkin's 45 percent. In November 2010, McCotter defeated Democrat Natalie Mosher with 59 percent of the vote to Mosher's 39 percent.
2012 presidential campaign
In May 2011, McCotter confirmed that he was considering a run for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States in 2012.Rep. McCotter Ponders 2012 Presidential Run, The Wall Street Journal. May 25, 2011. Retrieved May 24, 2011. By late June, sources indicated that McCotter would enter the race. On June 23, 2011, a McCotter representative bid $18,000 for a site at the Ames Straw Poll Auction in Iowa."Thaddeus McCotter Creates Chaos At Straw Poll Auction" , The Iowa Republican. June 23, 2011. Retrieved June 24, 2011. On July 1, 2011, McCotter announced that he had filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as a candidate for president."Michigan GOP Rep. McCotter Unveils Presidential Bid", The Wall Street Journal. July 1, 2011. Retrieved July 1, 2011. On July 2, 2011, McCotter announced his candidacy at WAAM Freedom Fest in Whitmore Lake, Michigan, outside of Detroit.
Throughout his campaign, commentators suggested that McCotter's lack of name recognition nationwide would hamper his chances of winning the nomination. In opinion polls that included McCotter, he received less than one percent and he came in last place in the August 2011 Ames Straw Poll. On September 22, 2011, McCotter announced the end of his campaign for the presidential nomination, and said that his exclusion from presidential debates had hindered it. Given the lack of media coverage of his campaign, McCotter called the end of his presidential campaign "death by media." He said he would endorse Mitt Romney and would run again for his 11th congressional district in 2012."McCotter drops W.H. bid, endorses Romney", USA Today. September 22, 2011. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
2012 congressional campaign and petition scandal In April 2011, McCotter was the only member of Michigan's 15-member congressional delegation who did not confirm he was running for reelection. He indicated interest in running against incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow for the U.S. Senate seat in Michigan in 2012, but in May 2011 announced that he would not campaign for the position."McCotter won't run for Senate" The Detroit News. May 15, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
After announcing his intention to run for reelection, McCotter was expected to win the Republican nomination easily, but on May 25, 2012, Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson announced that he had failed to submit enough valid petition signatures to qualify for the August 7 primary ballot. Although McCotter had submitted 2,000 signatures, the maximum permitted by Michigan law for congressional primaries, a preliminary review indicated that fewer than the required minimum of 1,000 were valid. According to a spokeswoman for the Secretary of State's office, several of McCotter's petition signatures were duplicates. Michigan election law stipulates that if duplicates are found, both the original and duplicate are ruled invalid. McCotter had the option of running as a write-in candidate in the primary election or as an independent in the general election if he failed to qualify for a primary ballot spot."Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter short on signatures for 2012 bid to retain his seat" mlive.com May 25, 2012
At the time the apparent fraud was uncovered, McCotter was on a congressional trip to Taiwan. On May 26, a source within McCotter's campaign told the Detroit Free Press that McCotter conceded that the signatures would be ruled invalid, and that he was considering a write-in effort. McCotter confirmed this to Nolan Finley of The Detroit News, adding that he did not understand what happened with the signatures on the petitions.Schultz, Marsha. State looks into possible fraud in McCotter petition signatures foul-up. The Detroit News, May 28, 2012.
Later that day, state officials announced in two separate reviews that more than 85 percent of McCotter's petition signatures were invalid. The Secretary of State's office said its review revealed only 244 of 2,000 signatures were valid. Numerous petition sheets appeared to have been copied—in some cases, as many as three times—and in some cases a different canvasser's name was attached to one of the copies. Michigan elections director Chris Thomas conducted his own review, and said there was evidence signatures from 2010 petitions had been cut-and-pasted onto the 2012 sheets.Schultz, Marisa. Just 244 of 2,000 McCotter signatures valid, petition review finds. The Detroit News, May 29, 2012. Thomas also said that McCotter had only turned in 1,830 signatures, and all but 244 were invalid. His office's review revealed that dozens of petition sheets appeared to have been copied in what he described as an "unprecedented level" of fraud.
Late on May 27, the Secretary of State's office announced that it found the potential fraud egregious enough to ask state attorney general Bill Schuette to look into the matter. In an op-ed that ran in the May 29, 2012, Detroit News, McCotter announced he would mount a write-in campaign in the Republican primary for his seat. He also acknowledged that the signatures in question were indeed invalid, based on his own legal team's review. Likening himself to George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, McCotter said that he was running a write-in campaign to "clean up my own mess."McCotter, Thaddeus. McCotter: "You clean up your own mess". The Detroit News, May 29, 2012.