Thaddeus McCotter

Thaddeus George McCotter (born August 22, 1965) is an American politician, radio host, and a member of the Republican Party.

McCotter was born in Detroit, Michigan, and is a 1983 graduate of Detroit Catholic Central High School in Redford.

His mother, Georgia Joan McCotter, was the city clerk of Livonia.

He received a B.A. from the University of Detroit in 1987 and a J.D. from the same school in 1990.

McCotter first entered politics in 1992 when he was elected to the Wayne County Commission.

McCotter had a private law practice and was a Schoolcraft College trustee before being elected to the Wayne County Commission in 1992.

While on the commission, he worked to change the county charter to require that new taxes require the approval of two-thirds of the Commission and 60% of voters.

McCotter was elected to the Michigan State Senate in 1998.

He then served in the Michigan Senate from 1999 to 2003.

In 2002, McCotter was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

As a state senator, he helped apportion the U.S. Congressional district from which he was subsequently elected in 2002.

McCotter was elected in November 2002, defeating Democratic Candidate Kevin Kelley of Redford, to the 108th Congress.

He was the U.S. Representative from MI's 11th congressional district from 2003 to 2012.

The district at the time consisted of portions of Detroit's northwestern suburbs, such as Livonia, Westland and Novi.

He was reelected in the 2004 Congressional elections.

Shortly before the midterm elections in November 2006, McCotter made a $250,000 contribution to the National Republican Congressional Committee.

After the elections, when the Republicans became the minority party in the House of Representatives, McCotter was elected chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, the fifth-ranking post among House Republicans.

The other Republican seeking the post was Congressman Darrell Issa of southern California.

McCotter was a member of both the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership and the conservative Republican Study Committee.

McCotter ran unopposed in the 2006 Republican primary.

His opponent in the November 2006 general election was Democrat Tony Trupiano, a progressive radio talk show host from Dearborn Heights.

McCotter, Trupiano, Libertarian Party nominee John Tatar, and U.S. Taxpayers Party nominee Charles Tackett met only once for a recorded League of Women Voters public forum in mid-October.

In radio and direct-mail advertisements, McCotter criticized Trupiano's position on illegal immigration, and he was reelected with 55 percent of the vote.

In May 2007, McCotter, along with 55 other Republicans, voted for a bill written by House Democrats aimed at stopping energy price gouging, against the wishes of House Minority Leader John Boehner, who labeled the bill "as pointless political pandering".

McCotter was a supporter of the United States' involvement in both the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War.

On September 22, 2008, McCotter became the first Republican in the House of Representatives to oppose the $700 billion Paulson bailout plan, calling it "American socialism".

A week later, he and 132 other Republicans voted against the bill.

In November 2008, McCotter defeated Democrat Joseph Larkin, Green Party candidate Erik Shelley, and Libertarian John Tatar.

McCotter won 51 percent of the vote to Larkin's 45 percent.

At the end of July 2009, McCotter introduced a bill to allow pet owners a $3,500 tax deduction for pet care costs.

The bill, called the Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years (HAPPY) Act, was criticized by Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center as "the poster puppy for all that is wrong with the tax code."

McCotter supported union-friendly measures including collective bargaining agreements for government jobs and card check, although he later said his vote for the so-called card check method was a mistake.

In November 2010, McCotter defeated Democrat Natalie Mosher with 59 percent of the vote to Mosher's 39 percent.

From July to September 2011, McCotter was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination for the 2012 race.

After a last place finish in the Iowa Straw Poll in August and failing to secure a spot in the presidential debates, McCotter suspended his campaign.

In his 2011 book Seize Freedom!, he wrote that the wars "were never separate wars; they have always been battle theaters in the War for Freedom."

He was also a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in the 2012 election.

After ending his presidential campaign, McCotter decided to run again for his seat in Congress, but he failed to qualify for the 2012 Republican primary in his congressional district after most of his petition signatures were rejected as invalid.

McCotter himself was not suspected of wrongdoing, though several of his staffers were charged with duplicating signatures and other electoral crimes, and some convicted.

McCotter later sued some of the perpetrators for damage to his reputation, but fallout from the ensuing scandal resulted in McCotter's resignation from Congress in July 2012.