Trucker Randy declares war on GOP -- and nobody notices

Imagine how embarrassing it must be if you declare war on a certain political group and nobody notices.

It’s been eight days since Randy Bishop, aka Trucker Randy, declared war on the Michigan Republican Party on his northern Michigan radio show. The reaction? So far, the crickets are drowning out the smattering of applause from fellow right-wingers who, like Trucker Randy, believe that an ultraconservative version of the tea party should take control of the GOP.

Trucker Randy, a two-time felon when he was living in Macomb County, took to the air on Aug. 15 and made it clear to his audience that it was time for Michigan “patriots” to seize control of the state party. The chairman of the Antrim County Republican Party, Trucker Randy railed against Medicaid expansion and other issues which divide mainstream Republicans from the tea party people.
Trucker Randy, who fancies himself a political Pied Piper, boldly declared: “I’m sorry folks, but it’s time that each individual county stands up and calls these guys out on this stuff and forces them to do what we, the people, want them to do. If not us, who? If not now, when?”

Apparently Trucker Randy thought those words would be carved in granite somewhere, someday.

His radio rant also offered some unintentional irony and comedy as he railed against GOP state Sen. Tom Casperson, an Upper Peninsula lawmaker.  Trucker Randy insisted that Casperson was a traitor and should switch to the Democratic Party.

When a caller to the show suggested that someone like Trucker Randy should run as a Democrat as a slick means of defeating Casperson in the 2014 election, the radio shock-jock turned philosophical – and hypocritical.
“I could not. My God would not allow me to lie to the people of any Senate district to file an affidavit of identity as a Democrat. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

All the people that Trucker Randy defrauded back in Macomb County would surely become nauseated upon hearing those remarks.

After Trucker Randy was found guilty of two counts of fraud after abandoning an unfinished subdivision, and after his builder’s license was taken away, and after he was accused of not paying state and federal taxes, and after he paid tens of thousands of dollars in restitution to his victims, he applied for a real estate license.

When he filled out the affidavit of application to the state, he claimed that he had never been convicted of a felony. He lied. He later admitted in an administrative law court that he lied.
The judge who handled the case said Trucker Randy's  behavior “illustrates his inability to serve the public in an open and honest manner and his lack of good moral character.”

It seems that, in Trucker Randy’s mind, filing for office as a Democrat is an unspeakable offense. But fraudulently filing for a license to sell real estate, after you have already defrauded people in your previous foray into the real estate business, is just fine. Unless you get caught.

   

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If you want to catch this guy in action, he will be moderating a “debate” on Michigan’s new right-to-work law at a Sept. 3 forum at the American Legion Hall in Utica. The event, organized by anti-union activist Brian Pannebecker, begins at 7 p.m.