Tea Party activist Kerry Bentivolio, the Republican nominee to replace Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), is known for being a Santa Claus impersonator. But a Detroit Free Press examination of Michigan public records shows that during his career as an educator paints an image of an abusive school teacher who terrorized students and resigned after multiple administrative reprimands.

According to the Free Press:

On the first day of school last year, Kerry Bentivolio told students in his English class at Fowlerville High School that he had one goal: to make each one of them cry at least once.

Bentivolio, now the Republican candidate in Michigan’s 11th Congressional District — which includes western Wayne and Oakland counties — also told the students that they were “just a paycheck to me,” according to a description of incidents in his personnel file. The Free Press obtained his records under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. Bentivolio didn’t return calls Tuesday.

Bentivolio’s declarations earned him a verbal reprimand from his assistant principal and a formal letter demanding that he correct his behavior. Nine months later, school administrators reprimanded him for intimidating and threatening students by grabbing their desks and yelling in their faces or for slamming his fists on their desks.

Bentivolio won the nomination earlier this month after McCotter was disqualified for submitting invalid ballot petitions and a write-in campaign by establishment party figures failed.

He is the latest in a growing series of embarrassments among Republican Congressional candidates and incumbents. In recent weeks, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) has come under bipartisan fire for his comments that “legitimate rape” rarely results in pregnancy, Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS) had to apologize for his behavior on a Congressional trip to Israel, and Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Michael Grimm (R-NY), and David Rivera (R-FL) continued to draw attention for alleged ethical scandals.

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) is a magnet for ethical allegations. Most significantly, he is reportedly already under a federal grand jury investigation for allegedly accepting donations from non-U.S. citizens and donations over the legal limit, and for allegedly pressuring a New York rabbi to raise campaign funds. Grimm has denied any wrongdoing.

As that investigation proceeds, Grimm now faces new ethics allegations, this time over his repeated failure to disclose a privately funded trip to Cyprus. The New York Times reports that though Grimm did receive pre-approval for his trip from the House Ethics Committee, he neglected to file the required disclosures afterwards:

Mr. Grimm did not file required paperwork about the trip, which was paid for by a private organization, with the House clerk, according to Congressional records. Nor did he initially report the Cyprus trip on his Congressional financial disclosure filing in May, even though he did list [an] Israel trip, according to the records.

But in June, Mr. Grimm amended his financial disclosure filing to report the Cyprus trip, the records show. The amended filing came one day after his host on the trip, Peter Papanicolaou, the president of the Cyprus Federation of America, which paid for the $6,890 visit, was arrested in Brooklyn on federal corruption charges.

Despite House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) promised “zero-tolerance” policy on ethical scandals, House Republicans have taking no action against Grimm.

Maggie Brooks (R) has been County Executive for Monroe County, NY, since 2004. After nearly a decade as chief executive of the Rochester, NY-area county — population of 744,000 — Brooks is currently the Republican nominee for U.S. House of Representatives, challenging 13-term incumbent Rep. Louise Slaughter (D). And, according to her most recent disclosure forms, she is receiving significant help from a long-time lobbyist supporter who has done very well under the tenure — a potentially serious conflict of interest.

Bruce Fennie, a Rochester-based federal lobbyist has raised at least $19,200 in “bundled” contributions for Brooks’ Congressional campaign and contributed the legal maximum of $2,500. Fennie is the only lobbyist bundler identified to date as having raised a significant amount for Brooks. And this support is nothing new — New York State campaign finance disclosure records show Fennie gave tens of thousands to her county races over the years.

Why is Fennie so enthusiastic about Brooks? One reason may be that, during her tenure as County Executive, almost all of his lobbying contracts over Brooks’ tenure have been with her county’s government. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported in 2010:

Fennie, a former executive in Rochester for the communications division of Florida-based Harris Corp., and his three employees earned $660,000 last year representing five public-sector clients in Monroe County.

They were paid $260,000 by the Monroe County Water Authority, $160,000 by Monroe Community College and $80,000 each by Monroe County, the Monroe County Airport Authority and the Monroe County Department of Transportation, according to public disclosure reports he filed with the House of Representatives.

The Monroe Community College was the only such institution in the state of New York to be paying a federal lobbyist. And, the Democrat and Chronicle notes, Brooks even accompanied Fennie on a Washington lobbying trip in March.

While a Brooks spokesman told the paper that all of Fennie’s contracts were with “independent authorities that do not report to the county or the county executive,” and claimed none were with the county itself, the paper noted that that statement was apparently false. A ThinkProgress review of lobbying disclosure forms confirms that Fennie has directly represented the county since 2008 and receives $80,000 a year for his services.

While her campaign website boasts that Brooks is “well-known for her fiscally responsible leadership and commitment to best serving the interests of local taxpayers,” not everyone believes the county’s spending on Fennie’s lobbying firm was a good use of funds. In a 2010 column, Republican Rochester talk show host Bob Lonsberry observed that the apparently symbiotic relationship between Brooks and Fennie “smells” and “makes you wonder what the behind-the-scenes connection is.”

Neither Fennie nor the Brooks campaign responded immediately to a request for comment.

On Thursday, House Republicans criticized the Justice Department for challenging voter ID laws. The critical lawmakers believe that DOJ is acting in a partisan manner and that DOJ’s actions show that the Obama Administration is more concerned with winning in November than protecting against election fraud.

DOJ denies that they are motivated by any partisan concerns. Under the Voting Rights Act, DOJ has challenged voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina.

In both states, Republican-controlled legislatures passed laws requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification in order to vote. The Justice Department indicated this week it also is looking at whether Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law violates the Voting Rights Act, a 1965 law for ensuring minorities’ right to vote.

“Our philosophy has been very straight forward,” Perez told a House Judiciary subcommittee that Franks chairs. “We want to enforce laws. There’s a robust debate in this country, and we think we need to continue to have that debate and we do our level best to ensure that every eligible voter casts their vote and has access to the ballot.”

The criticism by Republican lawmakers is misplaced and misguided. Republican Reps. Steve King (IA) and Trent Franks (AZ) both claimed to be worried about voter fraud. King went so far as to say that “[w]e’re seeing voter fraud that’s pretty prevalent out there.” But there is no evidence that voter fraud is a problem. In fact there were only nine instances of possible in-person voter fraud between 2000 and 2007, and it is more likely that an individual will get struck by lightning than they will commit voter fraud. In the lawsuit brought by the ACLU against Pennsylvania’s voter ID law, the state formally acknowledged that no in-person voter fraud has occurred in Pennsylvania and they don’t expect any to occur in November. While voter fraud is a myth, voter ID laws do disenfranchise voters. In Pennsylvania alone, more than 750,000 eligible voters may be disenfranchised by the state’s new law.

While voter fraud is incredibly rare and therefore unlikely to swing the election in the Democrats’ favor, voter ID laws benefit Republicans because they disproportionately affect voters who are more likely to vote democratic. Poor, minority, and elderly voters are especially likely to fall into the 11 percent of eligible American voters who lack sufficient ID. Wisconsin State Senator Glenn Grothman (R) and Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R) both have said that voter ID laws will help Mitt Romney win in November. The ten states that have put voter ID requirements in place represent 127 electoral votes and are led by Republicans in both the legislature and the governorship.

–Alex Brown

Our Guest Blogger is Billy Corriher, Associate Director of Research for Legal Progress.

House Republicans want the government to use criminal statutes to prosecute reporters who publish sensitive national security information. In a hearing on Wednesday, the leadership of a House Judiciary Sub-Committee said such actions are needed after a series of New York Times stories included information leaked from government sources. In his testimony, Army Col. Ken Allard accused reporter David Sanger of “systematically penetrating the Obama White House as effectively as any foreign agent” and putting Americans at risk by reporting on the government’s cyber-attacks on Iran.

Journalists from the Times have published important stories with information on the assassination of Osama bin Laden and President Obama’s “kill list” of suspected terrorists. The story of the “kill list,” in particular, is vital information for anyone concerned about the government potentially abusing civil liberties in the “War on Terror.” The administration has placed at least one American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, on the list and killed him in a drone strike. If the Times had not acted, we would know very little about how the “kill list” is composed.

But Republicans charge that publishing leaked national security information is endangering the American public. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) called for subpoenaing journalists and demanding they expose their sources. “You either answer the question or you’re going to be held in contempt and go to jail, which is what I thought all reporters aspire to do anyway. I thought that was the crown jewel of the reporter’s resume, to actually go to jail protecting a source.”

Another Republican suggested the media’s watchdog role is unnecessary because whistleblower laws allow citizens to report wrongdoing to the government. In other words, we don’t need to know anything about our government’s national security actions, because we can trust the government to police itself.

Some even suggested the Obama administration has leaked information for political gain. The chair of the subcommittee, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), said the administration could be “weakening our national security and endangering American lives.” Like the “Fast and Furious” investigation, this could end up being another Republican witch hunt for information that could embarrass the Obama administration.

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