Toddwatch 2015: The Aftermath

     Finally, the nightmare is over.

     At least until he runs again.

     Can you really ever discard that as a possibility?

     Indeed, it's true: Lapeer County's favorite embarrassment lost his bid for re-election, and it wasn't even close.

     The surprising part is the actual victor: not presumptive front-runner Jan Peabody, nor Imlay City favorite Ian Kempf, nor Kevin Daley-approved Chris Tuski, but attorney Gary Howell, who won with 3,076 votes. In second place was Peabody with 2,418 votes; apparently, her most recent mailer featuring the unfortunate endorsement of the unfortunate John Stahl, complete with the two of them standing on the front of it looking completely bewildered, wasn't enough to pull her over her biggest rival. Tuski finished 22 votes behind her, and Kempf finished fourth with 2,069, proving once again that running a clean campaign simply doesn't work. No other candidate cleared 1,000, including Courser himself (415 would be his final tally, good for sixth), and two candidates, Jim DeWilde and Allan Landosky, didn't even clear 100. Combined.

     On the Democratic side, Margaret Guererro DeLuca demolished noted moonbat R.D. Bohm and Eric Johnson combined by over 2,000 votes, with Johnson somehow doubling Bohm's total despite not showing up for anything until the Democrat-only debate.

      As for the general election, a few things remain to be seen; namely, whether any write-in candidates will take a shot at the seat. And no doubt I'll have plenty of things to say about them, and plenty of questions to ask. But there truly are no losers here. Despite my disappointment in his recent mailers going after Peabody, Howell is still about as straight a shooter and a decent man as they come. Proof that sincerity will get you a long way. Likewise, no one can doubt DeLuca knows that of which she speaks, and she's got all the facts and numbers to back up her stances. Truthfully, I wouldn't be entirely disappointed with either being sent to Lansing, though regular readers can guess which one I'd throw my support behind.

     And finally, I'd like to address the guy who started this whole mess. As the old saying goes, you can fool all of the people some of the time, and you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you're a fool if you think you can fool all the people all the time. Thankfully, the voters of Lapeer County were smart enough to realize the mistake made and remove you from office, but not before you wasted $120,000 of our money on an election to replace you, made this county look foolish on a national scale, and left Lapeer unrepresented for the next four months. And sure, it looks like you'll get your "20/20" segment and cry about how badly you were treated, and how the progressive liberal conservatives destroyed your career, and speak up for the millions of families out there suffering from... adulterous husbands screwing their co-workers, then covering it up with taxpayer funds? I'm not really sure where you were going with that one.

     But take this as a lesson learned: there's only so much you can screw people over, deny it, cover it up, and then show no remorse for it, before they wise up and stop allowing you to take advantage of them. And it's the lack of repentance for your actions, complete lack of sympathy for the people whose lives you damaged, and continued denial of wrongdoing in the face of all your wrongdoing, that truly eliminates all benefit of the doubt. Know too, should you ever try and run for office again: plugging your ears and ignoring the voice of your constituents is the quickest way to make enemies of them. (Especially if they have a blog and way too much time on their hands.)

     I'm sure we'll have to hear about how the world has conspired against you, between those evil liberal progressive Republicans, the biased progressive conservatives at the Detroit News, and about how you were the lone voice of reason at the state House, who simply wanted nothing more than to enact Christian Sharia law in this state while making sure any issues that might be important to your constituents remained completely unattended to. Truly, you were the victim in all this, not the people you threw under the bus or refused to represent. Unfortunately for you, however, the people of Lansing and Lapeer finally saw you for what you really are, and you got exactly what you deserved.

     And now, having given Lapeer a black eye on a national stage, I sincerely hope you'll be smart enough to go away for a good long while.

     But I sincerely doubt it.