Thad McCotter Quits Congress–Resignation Effective Immediately

Apparently deciding that it’s no fun being a lame duck lawmaker especially after a “nightmarish month and a half,” Michigan Congressman Thad McCotter has decided not to finish out his final term in the U.S. House of Representatives and resigned his seat today.

You’ll recall that because of inept staff work, or something far worse, McCotter failed to submit enough valid petition signatures to qualify for the August 7 primary election and was booted off the ballot by the state Bureau of Elections.

He briefly flirted with the idea of mounting a write-in campaign to qualify as the Republican candidate for the state’s 11th Congressional district, but subsequently and quickly ended his reelection effort. McCotter also very briefly ran for president this year.

The congressman, who previously was a Wayne County Commissioner and state senator, apparently decided that enough is enough. Today, he submitted his resignation from Congress after serving there for almost 10 years, which is effective immediately.

McCotter’s formal statement said in part:

After nearly 26 years in elected office, this past nightmarish month and a half have, for the first time, severed the necessary harmony between the needs of my constituency and of my family. As this harmony is required to serve, its absence requires I leave.

The recent event’s totality of calumnies, indignities and deceits have weighed most heavily upon my family. Thus, acutely aware one cannot rebuild their hearth of home amongst the ruins of their U.S. House office, for the sake of my loved ones I must “strike another match, go start anew” by embracing the promotion back from public servant to sovereign citizen.

McCotter’s statement also indicated that he is continuing to assist the Michigan Attorney General’s investigation into the chaotic 2012 petition filing.

Presumably the seat will stay vacant until a new representative is elected in November.