And you thought Lapeer's long national nightmare was over.
But apparently it's going to take more than criminal charges to rid Lapeer politics of Todd Courser.
Disregarding the imminent possibility of jail time or getting disbarred, Courser filed to run for Lapeer County Prosecutor on the day of the filing deadline, where he'll be facing incumbent Tim Turkelson and Mike Sharkey in the Republican primary, and Phillip Fulks as the lone Democrat in the general on the off chance he makes it that far.
It doesn't take a lot to see why Courser would do this, slim chance though he may have to win: Courser was rather upset, to say the least, that Turkelson refused to charge Joe Gamrat with a crime after being revealed to be the "blackmailer" in the wake of Courser's adultery cover-up scandal. And Turkelson's popularity has no doubt taken a hit after "Donut-gate" and the Byron Konschuh trial. But while Turkelson is about as vulnerable as any incumbent in that position could be, would voters ever even consider supporting Todd Courser again?
Well, perhaps in an alternate universe where pigs fly, hell has frozen over, and the Lions win the Super Bowl every year...
...Nope. Still can't see it.
In other news, the sheriff's race is, for all intents and purposes, over.
Late yesterday, Ron Kalanquin decided to run again for the position he has long held, and had intended to vacate after this election, much like he planned to vacate it after the last one. In his supposed absence, three new candidates threw their hats into the ring: Harry Lutze, Scott McKenna, and Dave Eady, who also filed to run for his current county commissioner spot again and faces some tough competition there. Despite the competition for this office, it would be rather surprising to see Kalanquin lose the position, especially with the aforementioned turmoil at the county courthouse; the idea of having continued stability in at least one county office will no doubt appeal to many.
And in a race that's back to being something of an afterthought, nobody on the Republican side is challenging Gary Howell for the state representative position; the one other Republican candidate that filed, Jake Davison, withdrew in December and instead appears to have set his sights on the high-stakes race for Mayfield Township Treasurer. On the Democratic side, Margaret Guererro DeLuca is running a third time for the position, with no competition in the field. Granted, between the incredible disappearing Eric Johnson and R.D. "Freeway To The Moon" Bohm last time, and Todd Courser's twin brother Ike Eickholdt in the 2014 race, DeLuca has never faced any serious competition from within her own party. But with all due respect to DeLuca, who has fought about as hard as one could reasonably expect and would have made a damn fine representative in Lansing, it's hard to picture her beating Howell, especially having lost to him once already this year.
The best shot the Democrats had to win the office was against Todd Courser the first time around, though straight-ticket voting eventually did them in; they might have had a chance last time, but the party failed to capitalize early on Todd's scandal when it first broke and let the Republican challengers get out ahead. Now that Gary Howell is firmly entrenched in the position, it's going to be rather difficult to unseat him, especially considering that so far he's been true to his campaign promises, sponsoring or co-sponsoring legislation to roll back the pension tax, remove the FOIA exemption from the governor and legislature, and stop human trafficking. Barring a rather large public gaffe, the seat is still his come November.
More in the days to come on some of the other races up for grabs this fall, as there's a House seat that's about to be vacant...
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