At the sentencing hearing for a former official in the Oakland County Democratic Party in Michigan, the judge said that the official’s scheme to put fake Tea Party candidates on the ballot was “as heinous as someone who tries to kill somebody else.”
The official in question was Jason Bauer, the ex-operations director for the Oakland Dems, who was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay over $2,500 in fines and court costs on Wednesday, L.L. Brasier of the Detroit Free-Press reports.
In November, Bauer pleaded no contest to five felonies for his part in a scheme to put candidates for the sham “Michigan Tea Party” on the November, 2010 ballot, as a way to split the Republican vote in the general election. Bauer notarized affidavits for 12 of the fake candidates, who were not aware that they were being put on the ballot.
In the hearing, Oakland County Circuit Court judge James Alexander said of the scheme: “This is as heinous as someone who tries to kill somebody else.” He added that Bauer’s political career was over for these “political shenanigans.”
“My sentence pales in comparison to what you’ve done to yourself,” Alexander said, according to the Royal Oak Daily Tribune. “You were interested in politics. You had an entire career ahead of you, and that career is gone.”
Last month, the former chairman of the Oakland County Democrats Michael McGuinness was sentenced to one year of probation, 180 hours of community service and $1,965 in fines, after he also pleaded no contest to the charges.
