Michael McGuinness, formerly Democratic Party chair for Oakland County, Michigan (the second most populous county in the state), will plead “no contest” to criminal charges relating to a 2010 attempt by Democratic activists to create a ballot-qualified party called The Tea Party, and to arrange to have that party run nominees in certain districts that were perceived to be close between the two major parties. See this story.

The Tea Party did not get on the ballot in Michigan in 2010, even though its petition had enough valid signatures. The organizers made a paperwork error, and the name of the party was different on different documents. Some of the documents said the name of the party was “The Tea Party”, and other documents said it was “Tea Party.” It was therefore kept off the ballot, so none of its nominees appeared on the ballot either. The charges against McGuinness were related to forging the name of a presumed nominee of the party, when that individual actually was not a Tea Party nominee and had no desire to run for office. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.