This is an excerpt of a column I wrote for Deadline Detroit about Pete Lucido, the Republican state senator from Macomb County who faces a Senate investigation due to multiple accusations of sexual harassment.

 

Here is a closer look at Lucido’s initial dive into politics during his 2014 and 2016 House races:

  • In his 2014 run, a nasty campaign where exchanging verbal blows with his primary opponent was a daily occurrence, Lucido ran as a “Families First” Republican. But then it was revealed that he had failed to vote in local school elections since 1998. When he tried to explain, he only dug himself a deeper hole, as county records showed he had also missed votes for president and governor.
  • In that 2014 race, after setting a record for spending in a Michigan House primary election at $304,000 (largely due to an astounding infusion of $185,000 from his own bank account) he scheduled a fall fundraiser seeking up to $1,000 from each attendee, though he faced a hapless perennial Democratic candidate in November.
  • In his 2016 re-election race, Lucido threw himself a phony birthday bash and, again, sought campaign donations of up to $1,000. The fundraising party, festooned with a patriotic theme, was on July 17 — two weeks before his 56th birthday.
  • In that same year, when one of Lucido’s Republican colleagues seeking House election, Steve Marino of Harrison Township, scheduled a fundraiser, the event blew up in Marino’s face. The media revealed that the host, Dr. Jennifer Franklin, had been indicted by the feds as a key figure in a $6 million opioid drug ring. Marino cancelled the waterfront party on Lake St. Clair and defended his actions, telling reporters that he was in the dark about the doctor’s history. He insisted that Lucido arranged the event, which was slated to charge between $100 and $250 for attendees. Months later, Franklin pled guilty to the drug charges.
  • In the 2014 campaign, mysterious letters that urged boycotts of pro-Lucido businesses became so suspect that it appeared that the candidate may have generated them on his own, in a plot to generate a sympathy vote. At least three businesses were supposedly targeted by the boycott, which Lucido publicized as the victim, though one of the targets said he was not even aware of the letters and none of his customers had indicated receiving the correspondence or raised questions about it.
  • Also in that election year, the attorney trumpeted his endorsement by Dan Haggerty, the bushy-bearded actor who played the character of Grizzly Adams on TV 40 years ago. The announcement was made at a campaign event and photos of the two were provided to the press.
  • As Lucido cruised toward re-election in 2016, longshot Democratic opponent Diane Young filed complaints with state and federal authorities alleging that Lucido had engaged in financial irregularities. Young, a certified financial adviser, made several detailed claims, including assertions that Lucido failed to comply with transparency requirements for investment advisers and that he was illegally running a nonprofit financial group out of his state representative office.

You can read the full column here.