*    Blockers affiliated with the Michigan Democratic Party criminally signed false names on recall petitions. Two witnesses watched one such individual sign the name, "Robert Martin" with a false address at a liquor store on April 25. He returned shortly with Dillon staffer Joan Gebhart to block the petitioner.

*    Petition signatures deemed "forgeries" by  recall opponents have been confirmed valid. I knocked on doors this past weekend of individuals in Redford Twp. whose signatures are claimed to be forged. They confirmed their petition signature was legitimate. Examples:

o    Mr. Mark Sandusky of 9527 Garfield in Redford confirmed that the petition signature was indeed his and stated that his wife's signature (Gerrie Sandusky) was also valid.
o    Ms. Aimee Cunningham of 9332 Garfield also confirmed her signature.
o    Mr. Ray Zuniga of 19477 Brady confirmed that his signature was valid.
o    Mr. Jason Bagnell of 10024 Seminole confirmed the validity of his signature.

This Thursday, the Secretary of State (SOS) will release their final report on how many of the petition signatures they believe are valid. The SOS's preliminary report found 8,224 valid signatures out of the roughly 15,500 signatures submitted - 500 short of the 8,724 signatures required.

Why were so many signatures initially declared invalid? Several thousand signatures were from voters who lived in Dearborn Heights or Livonia, but not in the sections of the 17th House district that cover those two cities. Dillon's district lines can be confusing to voters and circulators in those two cities partially within the 17th district. We expected this would happen, so a signature verification company was retained to determine which signatures were from voters in the district. The verification firm determined that approximately 11,380 were in-district voters.

What the verification firm was not asked to check was the status of the petition circulators. The SOS tossed out over 2,000 signatures of registered voters in Speaker Dillon's district because the person circulating the petition was not a registered voter in Dillon's district. Many of these circulators live on the border of Andy Dillon's district and believed they lived in Redford based on their Redford Township mailing addresses. The recall campaign should have checked the residency of these circulators more carefully instead of relying on their representations and drivers' licenses. I apologize for the failure in oversight.

At no time did I, or anyone affiliated with the recall campaign, ask anyone to forge a signature or engage in any illegal activity, as alleged by Brewer and Dillon. It is Andy Dillon and Mark Brewer who should be held accountable for their illegitimate efforts to stop the recall campaign by any means necessary.

No matter what the SOS rules on Thursday, there will be a court fight. We will be fighting to have the court recognize the valid signatures from every voter in Andy Dillon's district regardless of which street the circulator lived on. Dillon and Brewer will be fighting to have the signatures - the political will of those voters - tossed into the trash.

When you take on the most powerful man in the legislature, the Democratic Party, and the entire Lansing machine, you have to expect the fight to be difficult and ugly. It is and was. But regardless of what Dillon, Brewer and the Lansing pundits say, this fight is far from over.

I'll keep you posted.

Leon Drolet
www.MichiganRecalls.com