Reuters: Politics: Republican Representative McCotter leaves Congress

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Republican Representative McCotter leaves Congress Jul 7th 2012, 01:43 Fri Jul 6, 2012 9:43pm EDT (Reuters) - Republican Representative Thaddeus McCotter, who dropped a quixotic presidential bid 10 months ago, said on Friday he was leaving office, following two embarrassing episodes involving invalid petition signatures and a report he wrote a racy TV script. The five-term Michigan Republican, in a statement on his Facebook page, thanked his constituents and said he would depart Congress after "this past nightmarish month and a half." McCotter's bid for re-election in November was jeopardized when hundreds of signatures on his campaign petitions were deemed invalid, prompting an investigation by Michigan's attorney general. The Detroit News also wrote about his proposed script for a TV show featuring a sinful protagonist who he said was "designed to be a train wreck." The script was leaked by a former staffer. McCotter, 46, ended his long-shot bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination in September, two months after it began, after he failed to garner much attention. The guitar-playing congressman billed himself as the voice of a new generation of conservatives who would reform the government's Social Security pension system. In his statement, he said: "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," he said, quoting from Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." McCotter's resignation takes effect immediately. The Republicans will pick their candidate for his seat in a primary next month. (Reporting By Andrew Stern; Editing by Peter Cooney) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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