Dillon recall accomplished with fraud

It took a little while, but apparently the law has finally caught up with Leon Drolet and the fraud he used in the recall attempts back in 2007 against primarily Democratic state Representatives who voted for revenue increases to keep the state government going and avoid a shutdown.

Drolet is former Republican state Representative, Macomb County Commissioner and executive director of the so-called Michigan Taxpayers Alliance (MTA). All the recalls fell by the wayside except the recall of Speaker of the House Andy Dillon, D-Redford, but it was accomplished with fraud and deceit, out-of-state money, illegal petition gathers, cash for signatures and illegal campaign contributions. Although it actually made it on the ballot, voters soundly rejected it.

However, today Michael Bastianelli, 28, of Westland and Harvey Robinson, 39, of Redford were arraigned in 16th District Court in Livonia on two felony counts of uttering and publishing and making false statements related to recall petitions during the Dillon recall attempt. They were released on $20,000 personal bonds. A preliminary hearing is set for January 5.

Subscription only Gongwer reported “Bastianelli allegedly forged petition signatures, while Mr. Robinson allegedly paid homeless people at a Detroit shelter to sign the names of residents living in Mr. Dillon's (D-Redford Twp.) district, said Attorney General Mike Cox spokesperson Nick DeLeeuw,” a former blogger. DeLeeuw was singing a different tune back before the 2008 election when he said, “This is exciting stuff. Rose (Bogaert) and Leon did a great job fighting the thugs, the criminals, the powers-that-be (Miles Handy) and the courts to give voters in Andy Dillon's House district the choice to recall him this November.”

Who are the thugs again?

Drolet, of course, denies knowing the pair, telling Gongwer that “he met Mr. Robinson once when he turned in some signatures. Mr. Robinson was working for a petition signature collection firm, Mr. Drolet said. However, he did not recognize Mr. Bastianelli's name.” Right.

“This is an indictment of Leon Drolet,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer in a press release. “The Drolet-led recall now has two people charged with felonies – proving Drolet may even stoop to breaking the law in order to get what he wants.”

The State Police began investigating in May 2008 after receiving 499 complaints of documented forgeries and nearly 2,000 additional suspected forgeries, indicating a widespread campaign to commit fraud. Still, the measure went on the ballot in November of 2008.

“These arrests are also an indictment of the entire recall effort against Speaker Dillon,” said Mark Fisk, partner of Byrum & Fisk Advocacy Communications, the lead consultant for Dillon in the anti-recall effort. “Drolet and the recall supporters used forgery, fraud, and deception throughout the recall campaign. Thanks to the Michigan State Police, the criminals are being punished and these tactics continue to be exposed.”

GOP blogger continues fake outrage

LANSING -- Can the Republican Party get any more petty, desperate and pathetic? You bet.

The guy who runs the official, unofficial GOP blog, “Right” Michigan, stood out in the rain Thursday to video tape people arriving at a lunch time fundraiser for Sen. Hansen Clark, D-Detroit, at the Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association. He then put the images to the theme song for the TV series “Cheers” coupled with images of the Bush recession to try and make the impression that the world would come to an end because a lunch fundraiser was being held.

See, the huge crime was that you could also get a beer at the Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association. The lunch was just one of about seven events held in Lansing on Thursday to get the attention of lawmakers, two were held at the Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association alone. In fact, there were four held at that very building this week, and more will be more held there next week.

He made a big deal of the event being held at 11:30 a.m. Apparently, in his world lunch is evil Next Tuesday Rep. Tory Rocca, R-Sterling Heights, is holding a fundraiser at the very same time and same place on Tuesday. Will he be there with his camera? I doubt it.

If this is all the Republicans have; no wonder they are the minority party.

When you can’t debate you censor

We saw last summer how Republicans hate to be challenged when they try to lie and spin facts, and when Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, censored the liberal blog Blogging for Michigan by banning it from Senate computers we saw how far they will go when challenged with the truth.

I felt that same wrath when I was banned last week from commenting on the leading right wing blog, RightMichigan, by paid GOP operative Nick DeLeeuw.

It’s pretty sad when their positions are so flimsily they cannot even defend them, and because they can’t defend their positions they just shut people up. Many of my blogger friends and colleagues ask my why I bother posting on right-wing blogs and put up with all the personal attacks. It’s pretty simple: How hard and how fun is it to have a debate with yourself or with someone with the same position. Hell, how do you even debate yourself?

Actually, I don’t get a whole of lot out of these debates and exchanges because after I destroy their positions and punch holes through their lies and half truths, I get greeted with name-calling. When you do not have a leg to stand on that’s what you get. I should have expected this because his boss has a “blog” that does not even allow any comments. They want to be able to spin their lies without being called out on it.

One of their favorite insulting names for me is troll. Whenever I disprove their spin and point out their lies I get called a troll instead of them backing up their position. I’ve repeatedly asked how I can be a troll when to comment I have to be registered with a screen name and password that has to be approved. You can comment here anonymously because I can defend my positions, and I’m not afraid to stand up for what I believe.

It doesn’t really bother me that I got banned because I was just wasting my time debating people devoid of real ideas and closed minds, but the lame excuse he used to get rid of someone who was kicking his ass in debate really bothers me.

The other favorite slur against me is a play on my screen name, and I’m called Commie Guru, or similar variations. Very clever of them, but unfortunately, that’s what passes for real, intelligent debate on that blog.

Being called a Communist is something that is particularly offense to me because I spent 20 years in the Navy during the Cold War. I made some 10 overseas extended deployments during that time away from my family, and it really bothers me to be called a communist after that.

The people on that blog, like many Republicans, are what Al Franken calls “Chicken Hawks” meaning they are pro-war but refuse to serve in the military to back that up. DeLeeuw and the few posters there are the very definition of chicken hawks. There is one serial poster there who continually calls me a communist, but at the same time keeps telling me how much he supports the Iraq occupation and the troops. One day I called him out on a particular offensive anti-troop remark, so I began calling him “troop-hater” when ever he called me a communist. Childish. Yes, but what can I say.

In reality, I know he nor DeLeeuw are really not troop-haters. They are just indifferent, and they want them to go and fight and come home, shut up and then disappear.

Back to what got me banned. DeLeeuw posted some untrue things about the people tying to discourage people from signing the petitions in the misguided recall attempt against Rep. Robert Dean. He claimed the paid signature collectors were being harassed, so I went right to the source to get the information and found out that DeLeeuw was lying. He later posted video he took that proved I was right.

To make a long story short, I was banned for – get this - “chicken-hawking.” I have no idea how he reached that conclusion since I served in the military and am against the Iraq occupation.

If I misstated anything here or I am incorrect feel free to add your comments. You can even do it anonymously.

See, I don’t censor people here.

LC’s own LL knocks em dead on OTR

Hats off to Julielynn Gibbons (Liberal Lucy of Liberal, Loud and Proud) and Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel from The Next Hurrah) for the excellent job they did representing liberal bloggers on “Off the Record with Tim Skubick.”

They appeared with rightwing bloggers Nick DeLeeuw (“Rightmichigan”) and Bill Nowling (The Lunchbucket Conservative) on the half hour show to discuss the effect of blogging on Michigan politics. They did an excellent job doing that, and they lent credibility to what we bloggers do. This is one of my favorite shows, and usually the panelists are political reporters from the mainstream media that cover the Capitol, but this time we had people who are much more involved in covering the Capitol.

I know this is all over the blogosphere by now, but because a lot of what I write about is politics where I live in Livingston County I wanted to point out the special connection to Livingston County.

Liberal Lucy grew up here in Livingston County’s Green Oak Township, and her proud parents still live. Although she now lives in Lansing, many local Democrats know her from her work to improve the Democratic net roots presence here in the county.

Bill Nowling also lives in Green Oak Township, and he was once a reporter here for the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus when it was still a weekly newspaper. After moving here to his wife’s hometown, fellow Republican Buddy Moorehouse, then the editor of the former Brighton Argus, got him a job with the paper until he could get into Michigan Republican politics, hooking up first on the staff of former Gov. John Engler and for then former state Sen. Mike Rogers.

After going to work for a PR firm, he made news when he allegedly threatened to blackmail Rogers after Rogers was elected to the U.S. House if he did not vote for a telecommunications bill one of the clients Nowling’s firm was representing wanted passed.

Ann Arbor resident Marcy Wheeler is the author of “Anatomy of Deceit” about the Plame CIA leak case. She was the only blogger to receive a press pass for the Scooter Libby trial where she live-blogged during the trial.

DeLeeuw operates one of the more slimier blogs around that’s long on accusations and short on facts. He recently took the Governor to task for daring to take a lunch hour and spending it with her teenage daughter on her birthday. His latest baseless attack is accusing Michigan House Democrats of taking a bribe because DTE’s political action committee contributed $15,000 to the House Democrats' political action committee, making the ridiculous claim it was for the proposal to revamp state regulations to return monopoly status to utilities such as DTE that could raise $500 million toward the budget shortfall. Like all of his “reporting” the real story is what he leaves out, like the fact that DTE has also given $11,500 to Senate Republicans.

You can see the show online, or you can tune in tonight at 9 p.m. on WKAR in East Lansing or 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The show is on most state PBS stations.