Good news.

It now appears that the fake "Tea Party" which has been attempting to qualify as an official party in Michigan (see my previous post) has not only been exposed as a fraud, but it also appears to be a fraud perpetrated by Democratic Party operatives. (Surprise!)

Michigan Capital Confidential did the research and has the complete scoop:

A tea party organizer says he has found the smoking gun that links the Democratic Party to the controversial "Tea Party" that is running candidates and seeking official ballot status in Michigan.

A "Jason Bauer" is listed on recent federal election documents and state campaign donation documents as the "political director" of the Oakland County Democratic Party. A "Jason H. Bauer" signed the affidavits as the notary on nine of the mysterious Tea Party Political candidates' paperwork turned in to the state of Michigan.

A "Jason H. Bauer" has registered twice to run for office in Oakland County, once as a Democrat in May of this year. Both times, the Auburn Hills home address given by "Jason H. Bauer" is the same as the "Jason Bauer" who is identified as the Oakland County Democratic Party political director on the state and federal campaign documents.

The "Jason H. Bauer" signature on the Oakland County document also appears substantially similar to the notary signatures on the Tea Party political party candidate filings revealed this week.

Bauer didn't immediately return a message left for him at the Oakland County Democratic Party headquarters. A message left for the party leaders wasn't immediately returned.

No fair! But the guys from Michigan Capitol Confidential kept calling additional numbers, and finally got someone to answer:

The reporter repeated back the number and asked if that was correct.

"Yep," the man said.

The reporter said he would try the number again. A second time, no one answered and no answering machine picked up.

The Michigan Democratic Party has denied being involved.

Chetly Zarko, who recently passed away, uncovered the petition drive necessary to create the Tea Party and discovered it was being done by Progressive Campaigns Inc. out of California. Their website has a client list that includes a campaign issue supported by George Soros, a well known supporter of Democrat causes. PCI also was involved with the Reform Michigan Government Now petition that was supported by Democrats and opposed by Republicans.
Democrat involvement in the RMGN petition was exposed by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. It failed to gain ballot status in Michigan.

Democrat ops creating a fake "Tea Party" is a real sign of desperation.

I was especially intrigued by an earlier MCC piece that mentioned Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer:

The Detroit Free Press has reported that the Tea Party leader is Mark Steffek, who is a retired autoworker and UAW steward. The grassroots tea party activists have not been supportive of unions.

And now the Tea Party candidates are targeting GOP contested races, Nowling said.

"If it walks like Mark Brewer, and it talks like Mark Brewer, then it's probably Mark Brewer," Nowling wrote in an e-mail, referring to the Michigan Democrat Party chairman. "This is the same stunt he pulled with the group 'Reform Michigan Government Now.' He created a ruse to make it look like a grassroots effort except that he was so ham-handed in the process that people saw it immediately for what it was. The most simple answer usually turns out to be the correct one, and the simplest answer here is that this is all Mark Brewer and MDP's doing."

"You start adding these things up and it just doesn't pass the smell test," Nowling said.

BINGO!

They have been at the same events hosted by Bauer's organization. Jason Bauer is the "Operations Manager and Political Director of the Oakland County Democratic Party" who

discussed OCDP accomplishments in 2009 and goals for 2010. Thanks to Jason for helping us with our last mailing.

I realize that slogging through this kind of political crap is exactly not fun reading, so I'm highlighting Bauer and Brewer for reader convenience:

The next meeting of the North Oakland Democratic Club is Wed. Feb 17th from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the Orion Twp Public Library, Mtg. Rm A, 825 Joslyn Rd., Lake Orion, MI 48362 Map link http://tinyurl.com/ybundc4

Our guest speakers are Gubernatorial candidate State Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith, who will discuss her campaign, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer, who will discuss redistricting, and State Board of Education member Casandra Ulbrich, who will discuss financing education in Michigan. You won't want to miss this meeting!

And here they're mentioned in the same post:

January 17, Clarkston Union (M/C Room) 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm, 54 S Main St, Clarkston, MI 48346 (Bryan Zulko - OFA, Ethyl Rivera OCDP Advocacy)
February 17, Orion Twp Library, Mtg Rm A, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm, 825 Joslyn Rd, Lake Orion, MI 48362 (Alma Wheeler Smith, Mark Brewer, Casandra Ulbrich)

[...]

July 21, Meeting and Open House at our new GOTV office, 1520 S Lapeer Rd #216, Lake Orion, MI 48360 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm, Speakers to include Casandra Ulbrich (State Senate District 12), David Lillis (Candidate for House Dist. 46), Jason Bauer, Operations Director, Oakland County Democratic Party, representatives for Congressman Gary Peters, other guests TBD.

No doubt if he were called by a reporter, Brewer would say he's a busy and important man, and can't remember what he does and who he meets.

Well, how about the fact that Brewer and Bauer are Facebook friends?

Bauer's friends also include Debbie Dingell (wife of Obama-Pelosi-Dingellcare author, Congressman John Dingell and an heir apparent to the Dingell Dynasty), and another man whose name rang a bell -- Democratic Party Spokesman John Tramontana. To become friends on Facebook requires sending an invitation by one friend, which then must be accepted by the other friend. While there is no way to know whether Bauer invited Brewer to become his friend, or Brewer invited Bauer, at an absolute minimum there had to be reciprocal clicking. And hey, being friends with the likes of Brewer, Dingell, and Tramontana requires some powerful reciprocal clicking!

To return to Michigan Capitol Confidential's point that "the most simple answer usually turns out to be the correct one, and the simplest answer here is that this is all Mark Brewer and MDP's doing," I found enough confirmation to pass my smell test.

MORE: "Republican Michigander" ("straight shooting from a libertarian leaning Republican") has more on the Democratic skullduggery here and here.

UPDATE: My thanks to TheBlogProf for linking this post. He has much more, and has been onto this hoax from the start.