Trucker Randy Bishop, who has been labeled a leader of
the Michigan Republicans’ “band of bullies,” continues to serve as an
embarrassment to some GOP activists, and an ally to others.
I’m told that a group of Republicans tried to get Trucker
Randy, a tea partier, booted from his position as an Antrim County GOP precinct
delegate because of the two felonies in his criminal past. But the effort is
fizzling due to legal ambiguities.
Elected officials are blocked from holding public office
for 20 years once convicted of a felony but there is some question whether someone
who holds the job of precinct delegate, though elected by ballot, is truly in a
public office.
A second issue, though, is whether the party wants to
remove Trucker Randy from the GOP State Central Committee. Felons are not
allowed to serve on the committee and the trucker is an ex-officio member as
the chairman of the Antrim County Republicans.
Arcand
Meanwhile, those Republicans who seem to embrace Trucker
Randy (who recently and very publicly declared war on the Michigan GOP) include
Alan Arcand, the tea party favorite who is trying to oust GOP Rep. Dan Benishek
in the 1st District congressional race.
State records show that Trucker Randy is working on the Alan
Arcand campaign and initially received a $300 payment for his work. He is also
receiving pay for his work on the part-time legislature campaign, a ballot
proposal drive led by Jack Hoogendyk, a former state representative from
western Michigan who has become a bit of a rogue element in GOP politics.
Hoogendyk
Hoogendyk made his mark in December when he complimented Dave
Agema, a Republican  National Committee
member best known for his gay bashing. Hoogendyk called Agema, another prickly GOP insurgent,
a “prophet.”
One other item: In his effort to recruit Arcand to run,
Trucker Randy apparently was aided by some of the other GOP “bullies” – Doug Sedenquist,
Devin Lawrence and Todd Courser.
As a county party chairman, the trucker is supposed to
stay neutral in Republican primaries, and critics call him a hypocrite because
on his northern Michigan radio show he has urged GOP officials to stay out of
the primary process.

 

For those not familiar, according to state documents and news reports, Trucker
Randy was convicted of the two felony fraud charges after trying to salvage a
Macomb County subdivision he hoped to build during the boom times of 1998. He
declared bankruptcy, lost his builder’s license, was accused of not paying his
federal and state taxes and, after fraudulently claiming in writing that he had
never been convicted of a felony, lost his real estate broker’s license in 2001.
A judge declared that Trucker
Randy’s fraudulent behavior “illustrates his inability to serve the public in
an open and honest manner and his lack of good moral character.”