Thad McCotter previously faked way into office

This is a couple of days old. I was off camping in Newaygo County -- you know, fishing and sitting around a campfire drinking rum -- and returning from that to see this places into stark relief how much I trule loath politics and how much contempt I hold for most politicians.

The staff of former U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter evidently had some practice dummying up petitions in order to get their boss on the ballot.

A review of the nominating petitions turned in for McCotter's elections from 2002 through 2012 shows he did not have enough signatures to qualify to run in at least the 2008, 2010 and 2012 elections. The skullduggery wasn't detected until this year, when a part-time staffer for the Secretary of State found that of the more than 1,800 signatures turned in by the McCotter campaign for 2012, only 244 were valid.

This isn't just a reason to hate more on McCotter, who obviously couldn't be bothered to do the rudimentary work to win a super-safe district, but also the elite of the political press.  Remember when those people conferred upon McCotter the label of "quirky intellect?" Someone who possesses anything akin to a keen intellect doesn't think to fake up a bunch of nominating petitions when those could be done legally and very easily.

If I were Tony Trupiano or Natalie Mosher, this would leave me so angry I'd be able to melt steel nails with my stare. If Thad McCotter were an athlete, they'd at least be able to strip him of his past successes. Is there a mechanism by which he can be forced to repay the U.S. Treasury his compensation for those years that he didn't, in fact, legally win an election to take office?