Republican candidate forced to apologize for lying

Perhaps the ugliest primary election last August and the one with the most extremist right-wingers got a little more weird after former state Rep. Kim Meltzer, R-Clinton Township, was forced by a court settlement to admit and issue a public apology in writing that her campaign lied about the legislative record of one of her opponents in the race, former Rep. Leon Drolet, R-Macomb Township, during the tight 2010 campaign in the 11th Michigan Senate District.

According to the Macomb Daily, “Drolet announced Monday that he has dropped a defamation lawsuit against Meltzer, in exchange for a statement from Meltzer conceding that her campaign’s attempt to paint Drolet as a candidate pushing a radical homosexual agenda was phony.”

The lit hit piece in question claimed that while in the House “Drolet had introduced legislation to legalize gay sex in public places.” Although Meltzer issued the required statement, she put the blame on someone else, claiming she “was unaware of the content of the flier and did not approve it ahead of time.” The joint statement reads as follows:

“A piece of campaign literature distributed by the Meltzer for state Senate campaign contained statements about Leon Drolet’s legislative record that are not true and were unapproved by state Rep. Kim Meltzer. The campaign literature falsely stated that ‘Drolet co-sponsored a bill that would have allowed sexual acts between homosexuals in public places, public parks and public restrooms –- exposing our children to that filth.’

“In fact, Leon Drolet did not introduce or support legislation that would allow such acts or homosexual gross indecency in public places, as was inaccurately stated in the campaign literature. False statements contained in the campaign literature were not approved by state Rep. Kim Meltzer."

According to the newspaper, Drolet issued one parting shot, blaming the incident on “McCarthy-like tactics by Meltzer’s campaign manager, Glenn Clark,” the former Republican Chair of the 9th Congressional District.

Drolet was behind the corruption filled 2008 recall effort against former House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford, where two signature takers were indicted for fraud.

The three way-GOP primary for the 11th Senate District featured charges of carpetbagging, lying, inappropriate sexual behavior and a candidate playing an imposter.

Meltzer was accused of being a carpetbagger because she just rented an address in the safe Republican district just for the race. The eventual winner of the Senate seat, current Sen. Jack Brandenburg, R-Harrison Township, was accused of inappropriate sexual behavior by Jennifer Gratz, who led the crooked Proposal 2 campaign in 2006 that banned affirmative action programs that used fraud to get on the ballot.