Republican Rep. Thaddeus McCotter resigned dramatically Friday after failing to gather enough valid signatures to retake his own House seat. But he now faces the less-glamour task of being unemployed with no clear prospects.

McCotter, who briefly mounted an unsuccessful campaign for president last year, said he didn't have another job lined up but was "unwilling and ill-suited" to be a lobbyist.

The five-term congressman also said his priorities would now be helping the state attorney general's office investigate the faulty petition filings, after finding another job.

“Acutely aware one cannot rebuild their hearth of home amongst the ruins of their US 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 said in a written statement.

He dropped his bid for re-election last month after learning his staff hadn't filed enough valid petition signatures to get him on the Aug. 7 primary ballot. Twice as many signatures as required were turned in, but 80 percent were found to be fake or duplicates.

McCotter also expressed disappointment with the challenges to his petition filing.

"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," McCotter said late Friday.

He encouraged the state attorney general to continue investigating his petition filing. McCotter also said he faces "diminishing prospects" in the job market, noting he is "both unwilling and ill-suited to lobby."

Though McCotter does not appear to be in legal jeopardy, sources close to the congressman said he felt handcuffed by not being able to discuss freely what was happening with the attorney general probe.

There will be no special election to fill the rest of his term, so the seat is expected to remain vacant at least through the election.

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Editor's Note: One of the most constitutionally literate members of Congress screwed out of his position by what can only be perceived as nefarious forces...we await the investigation into the petition filings.


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