Jaye's days may be numbered as Senate expulsion vote looms
"This is a railroad job," the embattled senator says of today's vote after a bipartisan panel voted 5-1 against him
May 24, 2001
Grand Rapids Press
LANSING -- After weeks of accusations that he has acted in ways unbecoming to a lawmaker, state Sen. David Jaye soon will learn whether he will keep or lose his seat.
The 38-member Senate was expected to vote today afternoon on a resolution that recommends Jaye be expelled. The resolution passed a special Senate investigating committee Wednesday on a 5-1 bipartisan vote.
Jaye called the move to expel him from the seat he's held since 1997 a rush to justice, saying he didn't see how senators not on the committee will be able to review three weeks of testimony before today's vote.
"This is a railroad job," said Jaye, a Republican from Macomb County's Washington Township. "It didn't matter what we said."
The committee delayed its vote Wednesday afternoon as talks over a scenario that would spare Jaye expulsion and possibly lead to his resignation went on between Jaye's lawyers and Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow, R-Port Huron.
Until now, Jaye has refused to resign and has threatened to sue if the full Senate votes to expel him. He didn't directly answer a question Wednesday about whether he is considering resigning, but didn't sound ready to give up his fight just yet.
"I'm not a quitter," he said after the committee's vote.
Jaye, 43, has been under investigation by the committee for three drunken-driving convictions, allegations he hit fiancee Sonia Kloss and "a recurring pattern of personal misconduct," including verbally abusing staff members and having six photos of his topless fiancee on his Senate-issued laptop computer.
The committee voted on an alternative resolution to the one they have considered for the past three weeks.
The new resolution, authored by Senate Democratic Leader John Cherry, still calls for Jaye's expulsion.
Twenty-six votes are needed to expel him.
Jaye criticized the new resolution, saying it still accused him of being involved April 12 in what it called "a violent physical altercation" with his fiancee outside her home in Fort Myers, Fla. Both Jaye and Kloss deny he hit her. Florida authorities last week declined to press formal domestic battery charges against Jaye.
Sen. Leon Stille, R-Spring Lake, who offered the resolution to expel Jaye, said Jaye's aggressive defense against the charges may have ruined any chance of surviving an expulsion vote.
Both he and Sen. Glenn Steil -- who opposes an expulsion -- anticipate the full Senate will vote to expel Jaye today.
"He tried to intimidate everyone with shenanigans, with investigations and innuendo," Stille said in anticipation of the expulsion vote.
"If he had been very contrite and sorrowful of his actions, I do think the Senate might have said, 'You screwed up, but we do have some forgiveness.' But the way he attacked people, he was on a roll and he made a bad situation worse."
But Steil, R-Grand Rapids, doesn't buy that.
"This was a foregone conclusion," he said of the committee vote.
Steil said his colleagues were eager to expel Jaye despite a lack of hard evidence.
"The young man at the gas station said Jaye dragged his girlfriend out of the restroom, but the tape never showed that," he said. "Besides, if my girlfriend was in a men's john, in a stall with other men, I'd be upset myself."
Stille said Jaye may have put himself in further legal jeopardy by inviting the special Senate committee to look into details of the case.
"There's a lot of information that came out in the questioning done under oath," Stille said.
"Beating his girlfriend could constitute a violation of his probation -- if that's the case, he has 10 months of jail time. There were three witnesses testifying that they saw him strike this woman."
Steil said Jaye's constituents should be the ones to decide Jaye's fate.
"Being despicable" is not reason enough for the Senate to intervene, he said.
Those voting to recommend expulsion were Republican Sens. Thaddeus McCotter of Livonia, Philip Hoffman of Horton and Walter North of St. Ignace, as well as Democratic Sens. Alma Wheeler Smith of Salem Township and Cherry.
The lone dissenter was Sen. Donald Koivisto, D-Ironwood, who said he plans to argue today on the Senate floor that Jaye doesn't deserve to be expelled.
He supports censuring Jaye and taking away many of his perks of office, including access to his office computers and Senate-issued laptop computer.
Jaye faces ouster vote
Senate will decide today after panel's 5-1 verdict to expel
Detroit News
May 24, 2001
LANSING -- A special Senate committee voted 5-1 Wednesday to recommend that Sen. David Jaye be the first senator ever expelled from office -- even as his lawyers continued trying to negotiate a deal that would call for the lawmaker to resign.
After five hours of delays for closed-door bargaining, the committee met in early evening and voted quickly to recommend expelling Jaye without allowing his attorneys to protest.
If no agreement is reached on resignation, the Senate was poised to vote today on expulsion. That would require a two-thirds majority, or 26 of the 38 senators.
Political insiders say it could be a close vote.
"He uses his position of public trust to exercise a perceived senatorial privilege which is used as a sword and shield against people less powerful than he is," said committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter, R-Livonia, who voted in favor of the expulsion resolution.
Jaye, who never testified under oath during the three-week proceedings and maintains that he is near bankruptcy because of mounting legal bills, said he didn't get a fair hearing.
"I'm innocent of these charges," Jaye said. "This has been a witch hunt, a railroad job. My due process rights have been trampled on."
When asked whether he would consider resigning, Jaye said: "Look, I'm not a quitter."
Jaye's attorneys were considering an informal offer that would allow Jaye to resign at the end of this year or early next year but take no part in Senate business in the meantime.
The proposal under discussion would let the 43-year-old Washington Township Republican continue to receive his $77,400 Senate salary, and, if he resigned in January, his pension would be sweetened by another year.
Jaye lawyer Phil Thomas said he and co-counsel met privately with Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow twice during the day.
"Resignation is one of the options being discussed right now," Thomas said. "But it's not the only option, and there's nothing in writing. For three weeks there have been generalized offers including resignation."
DeGrow, R-Port Huron, who has been Jaye's leading critic during the expulsion hearings, said: "There is no deal." Earlier in the day he took the unusual step of addressing the Democratic caucus for 20 minutes to outline why he thought Jaye was unfit for service.
The resignation plan ironically was devised by Senate Democrats and presented to DeGrow by Jaye attorney Mike Marselese, who met with DeGrow around noon.
Closed-door meetings continued throughout the day, postponing the committee meeting five times. One proposed deal would have the state pay Jaye's attorney fees, which DeGrow flatly rejected. Jaye said his bill for legal fees has mounted to more than $30,000, and is growing at the rate of $500 an hour.
Sen. Joe Young Jr., D-Detroit, said Democrats were anxious to find a solution to the Jaye problem short of expulsion. "Everybody wants him out but we don't want to change the felony standard," Young said.
While a senator has never been expelled, some who faced felony charges have been coaxed into resigning rather than endure a floor vote on expulsion. The most recent was Sen. Henry Stallings, D-Detroit, who resigned in 1998 after pleading guilty to a felony charge related to his use of a state-paid Senate aide to run his art gallery. None of Jaye's charges or convictions involves a felony.
"If he resigns, he himself is saying I'm unfit for service,' and that's important," Young argued.
Senate Democratic Leader John Cherry of Clio, who is a member of the special Senate committee, said he thought taxpayers would understand if an agreement is forged that lets Jaye collect his pay and pension credits without serving for the next several months.
"People will think that resignation is a pretty severe punishment," Cherry said. "They'll be more concerned that we exercised deliberateness and thoughtfulness in this process."
Sen. Don Koivisto, D-Ironwood, the lone "no" vote on the committee, said Jaye's woes did not reach the level required for expulsion. "There are some questionable things in the resolution, particularly the assaults," Koivisto said. "He needs to be taught a lesson here. I'd support a strong censure."
Besides McCotter, those voting to recommend expulsion were Republican Sens. Philip Hoffman of Horton and Walter North of St. Ignace as well as Democratic Sens. Cherry and Alma Wheeler Smith of Washtenaw County's Salem Township.
Jaye has twice been convicted of drunken driving while in office and served a combined 45 days in jail. He was also investigated but not charged in two alleged assaults of his fiancee, Sonia Kloss, 36, of Florida.
Jaye has also been accused of using profanity in conversation with female Senate staffers, and for keeping lewd pictures of Kloss on his state-owned computer.
Michigan: State Senator Expelled
The New York Times
Published: May 25, 2001
David Jaye, a conservative Republican, became the first Michigan senator to be expelled from office. A 33-to-2 vote to expel him by the Republican-controlled Senate came after hearings into accusations that Mr. Jaye struck his fiancée and verbally abused staff members. Mr. Jaye called the expulsion a ''railroad job.''
Senate boots Jaye in a historic vote
Member with a checkered past is kicked out, 33-2
Detroit Free Press
May 25, 2001
A united Senate expelled David Jaye on Thursday, branding the Macomb County veteran lawmaker a bully whose many personal and legal troubles made him unfit for a job he fought doggedly to keep. The 33-2 vote ended weeks of crackling controversy and hearings over whether the Republican iconoclast was an incorrigible misfit or a political target who championed unpopular causes but made mistakes in his personal life. A day earlier, a special committee investigating charges against Jaye...
Michigan Senate votes to expel member
The Bryan Times
May 25, 2001
Lansing, Mich. [AP] - The state Senate voted Thursday to expel Sen. David Jaye, capping a turbulent six weeks that began with accusations Jaye had struck his fiancée and ended with his insistence he was being railroaded for his unpopular political views.
At least 26 votes in the 38-member Senate were needed to force out Jaye, who became the first Michigan senator ever expelled. The resolution to remove him passed 33-2. Jaye, a noisy, boastful, arch-conservative gadfly who has likened himself to a "junkyard dog," turned down requests from several senators to resign before the vote.
Michigan Senator forced out
Wilmington Morning Star
May 25, 2001
Lansing, Mich. - The Michigan Senate on Thursday expelled one of its memebers for the first time, ousting a Republican who had been accused of verbally abusing staff members and hitting his fiancée.
Sen. David Jaye was forced out on a 33-2 vote, seven more votes than were needed. The conservative senator, who likened himself to a "junkyard dog," said he was being rail-roaded for his political views.
"I'm going into bankruptcy over trumped-up charges," Sen. Jaye said during his fight on the Senate floor to save his job. "Why? Because I've upset the political bosses and the special interests."
Sen. Jaye, 43, has been under investigation by a Senate committee for three drunken driving convictions, allegations that he hit fiancée Sonia Kloss and "a recurring pattern of personal misconduct," including verbally abusing staff members.
Michigan Senate votes Jaye out
Defiant arch -conservative blames action on 'trumped-up charges'The Toldeo Blade
May 25, 2001
Lansing - The state Senate voted yesterday to expel Sen. David Jaye, capping a turbulent six weeks that began with accusations he had struck his fiancée and ended with his insistence he was being railroaded for his unpopular political views.
At least 26 votes in the 38-member Senate were needed to force out Mr. Jaye who became the first Michigan senator expelled. The resolution to remove him passed 33-2.
Mr. Jaye, a boastful arch-conservative gadfly who has likened himself to a "junkyard dog," turned down requests from several senators to resign before the vote. At one point, lawyers for Mr. Jaye and Senate Majority Leander Dan DeGrow discussed letting Mr. Jaye resign in the fall, but no deal was struck.
Mr. Jaye pleaded with senators before the vote to censure him and let him keep his seat, but Mr. DeGrow was able to get 11 Democrats to join 22 of the Senate's 23 Republicans in voting to expel Mr. Jaye. Democratic Sen. Don Koivisto of Ironwood and Mr. Jaye were the only ones to oppose the resolution.
Mr. Jaye, 43, had been under investigation by a special Senate committee for three drunken driving convictions, allegations he hit his financee, Sonia Kloss, and "a recurring pattern of personal misconduct," including verbally abusing staff members and having six photos of his topless financee on his Senate-issued laptop computer.
The senator, a Republican from Macomb County's Washington Township, admitted he made mistakes but said he was pushed out because he had clashed with Mr. DeGrow [R- Port Huron].
"I'm going into bankruptcy over trumped-up charges," Mr. Jaye said during his fight on the Senate floor to save his job. "Why? Because I've upset the political bosses and the special interests."
Mr. Jaye said after the vote that he may run again for the Senate. Governor Engler is expected to call a special election to fill Mr. Jaye's seat. Mr. Jaye said he's thinking of filing a suit over his expulsion but admitted his legal bills may make that impossible.
Bill McMaster, head of an Oakland County taxpayers' group and a Jaye supporter, said he hopes Mr. Jaye runs again. "The battle has begun with the birth of a martyr in Senator Jaye," Mr. McMaster said. "He may not be gone for long."
Mr. Koivisto said Mr. Jaye didn't deserve to be expelled because the allegations that Mr. Jaye had been in "a violent physical altercation" with his financee were never proved.
"We are saying you are guilty even if you never were even charged," Mr. Koivisto said. He called for censuring Mr. Jaye and taking away perks of the office.
But, other senators said Mr. Jaye's behavior had been too extreme and gone on too long to allow him to stay.
Although Mr. Jaye was never charged in Florida after being arrested on April 12 in a dispute with Ms. Kloss, some senators said they didn't believe the pair's denials that he didn't strike her.
Other said they were upset with documents from Senate staff members saying Mr. Jaye had sworn at them or been verbally abusive.
Jaye Failed to convince fellow senators he had come clean
The Argus Press
May 25, 2001
Lansing, Mich. [AP] - Sen. David Jaye might still be sitting in the Senate next week if he's convinced his fellow senators he's come clean.
Several of the 33 senators who voted Thursday to expel the Macomb County Republican said the outcome might have been different if they hadn't thought he was lying about striking his fiancee, Sonia Kloss.
They pointed to the police testimony saying Kloss had bruises on her face after an April 12 dispute with Jaye outside her home in Fort Myers, Fla.
They brought up the eyewitness account of an 18-year-old clerk at a Bay County gas station who took a day off school to tell a Senate investigating committee he saw Jaye strike Kloss as the two were leaving the station's mini-mart last November.
They didn't buy Kloss' comments that Jaye had never struck her, or Jaye's argument that because Florida authorities decided not to bring formal charges against him and he'd never been charged in six months for the Bay County incident, he should be left off the hook.
For Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow and many others, the evidence added up to one thing: Jaye had hit his fiancee.
"Once it was clear he did, it was over," DeGrow said after the vote. "He continues to deny it. He'll probably always deny it. But it [his denial] isn't true."
DeGrow, R- Port Huron, said the outcome may have been different if Jaye had walked into his office the week after his April 12 Florida arrest, admitted he'd hit Kloss twice and asked for help straigtening out his life.
Instead, Jaye insisted to his fellow Senate Republicans during an April 17 meeting that he had not struck Kloss.
During the Senate investigation, his lawyers showed an interview they'd taped with Kloss in which she said she had been hit in the face by a garment bag the two had been tussling over in Florida, not by Jaye.
They also showed a tape from the service station's surveillance system on which Jaye can be seen propelling Kloss out of the men's bathroom in the station's mini-mart, but not striking or kicking her.
Jaye insisted those were enough to prove his innocence, and that his other transgressions - three drunk driving convictions, verbal abuse of staff members and having six photos of his topless fiancess on his Senate-issued laptop computer didn't deserve expulsion.
But his fellow senators weren't looking for proof that Jaye hadn't erred. They wanted him to admit he'd done something wrong and get professional help.
"Things that used to be acceptable in harassment are not acceptable anymore," said Sen. Joanne Emmons, R-Big Rapids. "When I became convinced he hit her and lied, that crossed the line for me."
DeGrow has walked a delicate line of his own with Jaye ever since the brash, in-you-face state representative won a Senate special election in 1997. He kept private his letters admonishing Jaye and restored the committee assignments Jaye lost when he had to serve jail time last summer for his third drunk driving conviction.
But while Jaye's political stances didn't differ that much from his predecessor; the late Doug Carl, he didn't seem to fit very well into the smaller; more dignified world of the 38-member Senate.
Where he was just one colorful character among several in the 100-member House, Jaye's often caustic behavior toward Senate staff and other senators wasn't as easily overlooked in the Capitol's south wing.
That became even more truer as Jaye, under the spotlight of a six-member, bipartisan committee investigating his behavior, accused DeGrow of trying to shove him out of office in a political witch hunt.
When Jaye began insisting the 18-year-old clerk was a liar, most senators had heard enough.
"It drove home the drastic reality of what the pattern here was," said Senate Democratic Leader John Cherry of Clio. Instead of coming clean, he said, Jaye lied. Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, he tried to blame others.
Still, no one looked triumphant as the first vote to expel a senator in Michigan history passed 33-2.
"This was not a happy vote," said Livonia Republican Thaddeus McCotter, who headed the investigating committee. "This was not a vote somebody won."
Kloss: Our lives are turned upside down
Fiancée defends Jaye before the historic Senate vote that resulted in his expulsion
Detroit News
May 25, 2001
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP -- Sonia Kloss paced nervously through the first floor of the brick two-story home, answering the intermittent telephone calls, waiting.
The 36-year-old former restaurant owner from Fort Myers, Fla., smoked what seemed like a never-ending supply of cigarettes, hoping that the news would be good, that her fiance David Jaye would again foil his political enemies and remain a state senator.
A stranger's voice on a boom box brought the news about the crushing vote in the Senate to expel Jaye. The message echoed through her fiance's home, that the Washington Township Republican's fight to retain his office had come to a sad, embarrassing end.
"It has to be hard for him," Kloss said in an exclusive interview Thursday with The Detroit News. "My life has been turned upside down. David's life has been turned upside down."
Less than an hour before the final vote, Kloss spoke with Jaye, who said Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow was calling topless photos of her found on his office computer "extreme porn."
Jaye told Kloss that Majority Leader Sen. Dan DeGrow was making accusations that pictures of her found on his office computer were "extreme porn."
"That was not porn. That was personal pictures taken in Florida," Kloss said after hanging up. "I have no idea how they ended up on his computer. I think he was looking for some other pictures and those got accidentally downloaded."
Kloss continued the chain of cigarettes -- breaking Jaye's rule of no smoking in his house -- while answering a growing stream of calls from supporters.
During the last few months, Kloss had come to learn and live in the shadow of Jaye's notoriety. In years past, he was vilified in the press for his drunken driving arrests and for his positions on gun owner's rights and against affirmative action.
Kloss, a native of Trinidad, is the mother of two children from a previous marriage. She found herself dragged into the headlines as Jaye stood accused, arrested and released for allegedly assaulting her. Their personal lives were exposed when the topless photos of Kloss were seen on Jaye's Senate-issued laptop computer.
"He is a good politician who works hard for his constituents," she said. "This is like a death in his family. Politics is his first love."
Photos of the couple, from before the assault charges, hung from walls and sat on tables in Jaye's Washington Township home. The house was decorated more like a bachelor's pad than the abode of a state senator. Considering Jaye's 18 years in elective office, few political mementos were visible.
Paintings by amateur artists of a space-shuttle liftoff, of deep space and of wildlife hung on the plain white walls. The furniture had a tired look.
"He lives like a bachelor because his ex-wife took all of his furniture," Kloss explained.
Boxes of papers appeared to have taken root in the living room.
One photo in a ceramic frame covered with sea shells showed Jaye with Kloss and her two sons.
"He would take the boys fishing and show them the outdoors," she said. "The boys wouldn't call him David. They called him "senator ... smiling senator."
While awaiting the vote in Lansing, where Jaye was vehemently defending himself before his peers, Kloss chopped vegetables preparing a shepherd's pie -- one of her mother's specialties. Regardless of the outcome, her fiance would have something to eat when he returned home.
"As a kid, I would love it when my mom would cook shepherd's pie," Kloss said. The thought brought a rare smile on this cold, wet, emotionally overcast day. "It was one of my favorite dishes."
Kloss sat on a white leather sofa covered with a colorful blanket Jaye bought while visiting Mexico. She reminisced about the bumpy road of the couple's two-and-half-year relationship.
Jaye and a staffer were vacationing in Fort Myers when he met Kloss through a waitress at her Backwater Seafood Restaurant, she said. The restaurant was owned by Kloss and her ex-husband.
As her relationship with the tall, dark-haired politician grew, Jaye and Kloss began to spend more time together. Rarely, if ever, did six weeks go by before they found a way to see each other.
Then came the last six months.
Kloss admitted to making mistakes that led police to confront Jaye last November in Bay County and then a few weeks ago in Florida. She openly wished she had not made them.
Kloss flatly denied any abuse by Jaye as they left a service-station restroom along I-75 in Bay County in November. Kloss said she was running late to catch a flight back to Florida and had used the men's room because the women's restroom was full.
That upset Jaye, she said.
"I was trying to tell him my side of the story, and he was trying to get me in the car because we were running late," Kloss said. "If I were a victim, I would have been the first to call for help."
The incident in Florida last month came after an argument about Jaye's ex-wife, who was supposedly calling him on the phone. As Jaye was leaving her home, she said, he was trying to pull his bag from Kloss, and it smacked her in the face.
"I got a minor scratch that (a police) picture couldn't even pick up," she recalled.
For much of Thursday, Kloss didn't cry. She forcefully held back the flow of tears.
When she received a call Jaye's former sister-in-law who said the family was behind him, Kloss walked to a sliding door overlooking a small pond. There she cried.
"Michigan has a political Mafia ganging up on David ... they're all jealous of his career and his constituents loving him," she said. "That committee .. it had all the pawns and the rules and you're just there and you're not allowed to make a move because it was checkmate from the start. These people all have their motives and prejudged him."
With careful steps, Kloss walked to the sofa and sat down, unsure of what the future holds for the couple.
She admitted that Jaye's family did not approve of their engagement. She is unsure about what the Republican Party thought of their relationship, considering she is not an American citizen.
"I talked about breaking up because I didn't want to put him in the postion of breaking off the relationship," she said. "I wouldn't blame him if he would have broken up with me.
"I don't know what's going to happen. I feel guilty. I think that DeGrow used me as excuse."
What it means
* Senate expels Jaye immediately and removes him and his staff from Capitol.
* Jaye no longer gets his $77,400 salary but will start collecting $40,248 pension at 55.
What's next
* Governor will call a special election with the primary no sooner than 45 days later.
* Jaye may run in the election and, if he wins, would be allowed back in the Senate.
Jaye Case: Unbecoming Behavior
Detroit News
May 25, 2001
The Michigan Senate rid itself of a chronic embarrassment Thursday when it voted overwhelmingly to expel Sen. David Jaye, R-Washington Township, from its ranks.
Certainly, the Senate is better off without Mr. Jaye, as are his Macomb County constituents. Still, the precedent set by the expulsion, as well as the manner in which the Senate hearings were conducted, are causes for concern.
Mr. Jaye has repeatedly disgraced his office. He was investigated by a special Senate committee for drunken driving convictions, allegations that he hit fiancee Sonia Kloss and "a recurring pattern of personal misconduct," including verbally abusing staff members and having topless photos of Ms. Kloss on his Senate-issued laptop computer.
There is no disputing that Mr. Jaye's behavior has been appalling. However, he has never been charged with assaulting Ms. Kloss, the allegation that triggered the Senate hearings. Both she and Mr. Jaye have repeatedly denied he struck her.
In booting Mr. Jaye for less than a criminal conviction, the Senate establishes an arbitrary standard for expelling a senator that can be used in the future to purge itself of political mavericks.
The Senate also entered questionable territory by conducting a parallel criminal investigation into allegations that Mr. Jaye assaulted Ms. Kloss in Florida. Under the direction of Majority Leader Dan DeGrow, R-Port Huron, the Senate brought in Florida police officers and other witnesses to determine if a crime had been committed.
That determination should have been left with Florida prosecutors, who eventually decided not to charge Mr. Jaye.
And while the Senate hearings clearly took on the tone of a criminal prosecution, Mr. Jaye was not afforded full due process rights.
The size of the vote margin -- 33-2 -- is an indication of how badly his fellow senators wanted Mr. Jaye out of their presence. That speaks loudly to his character.
There is little to commend Mr. Jaye's legislative career. He has been a race-baiter and an abrasive, loud and boastful lawmaker. Instead of apologizing to the Senate, he went on the attack and threatened to sue the body if he was expelled. He also hurled wild allegations at his fellow senators and generally made himself a hard person to like.
The risk now is that Mr. Jaye will become a martyr in the eyes of his supporters. He can certainly raise a valid argument that he was treated unfairly by his fellow senators. It is possible that he will run again for his seat.
But it would be a mistake for voters to feel any sympathy for Mr. Jaye. Though the process of removing him was extremely flawed, he got what he deserved.
David Jaye caused his own problems and is paying the price for behavior unbecoming a senator.
The Issue
Did David Jaye merit expulsion by the Michigan Senate?
Jaye 'may not be gone for long'
Ousted senator expected to lead race if he tries to recover his state position in special election
Detroit News
May 25, 2001
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP -- If he wants his state Senate seat back, there's a good chance David Jaye can get it.
That's the assessment of political analysts handicapping Jaye's chances of winning a special election to fill the Senate seat from which he was booted Thursday.
"The battle has begun with the birth of a martyr in Sen. Jaye," said Bill McMaster, head of Taxpayers United and an outspoken Jaye defender. "He may not be gone for long."
Gov. John Engler can call a special election to fill Jaye's seat, but he's not legally bound to do so. Nothing in the law prohibits Jaye from running again.
The Macomb County district is firmly Republican, and whoever wins the GOP special primary will be favored to win election over the Democratic nominee.
The vacant seat would attract a large field of candidates, which would work in Jaye's favor, political experts say. Jaye said after his Senate ouster that he was undecided about his future, but he left the door open to a comeback bid.
"I think he will show them he can be re-elected and start over again," said Sonia Kloss, his fiancee, who played an unwilling but pivotal role in his expulsion. "Knowing David, I am sure he will run again. If he thinks he can try again, I want him to."
Richard Sabaugh, a political analyst who served with Jaye on the Macomb County Board of Commissioners in the 1980s, said Jaye has "a lot of die-hard supporters in the district, and the district is very conservative."
"He's the poster boy for the gun-rights issue, and is anti-taxes and anti-abortion," Sabaugh said. "Those are all issues that resonate well with his conservative constituents."
Said East Lansing-based pollster and political consultant Steve Mitchell: "If I were David Jaye, I'd take a shot. He may have done all of these things people said he did, but he was never charged. He can take that message back: that he was railroaded and there was no justifiable reason for being thrown out of office."
Political analyst Ed Sarpolous said Jaye's chances are best if a lot of other Republicans run in the special primary. "If there is a cast of thousands running, the largest plurality will be the Jaye militia," Sarpolous said.
Macomb County Republican Party Chairwoman Janice Nearon expects a crowded field in the GOP primary, led by former Fraser Councilman Steve Thomas and state Rep. Alan Sanborn of Richmond.
Former state Rep. Alvin Kukuk, Maria Carl --- widow of Jaye's Senate predecessor, Doug Carl -- and newcomer G.J. LaRouche also may join the race.
Nearon is unsure Jaye will run again.
"He has been saying he has all these lawyer costs, and will he want to do it again after all of this?" Nearon asked.
Senator's expulsion sets new standards
Detroit News
May 25, 2001
LANSING -- In the end, not even the lone senator who stood with David Jaye in opposing his expulsion could defend his behavior.
"Doggone Dave, you did it again today," a frustrated Sen. Don Koivisto, D-Ironwood, burst out at one point during Thursday's debate on the Senate floor. Koivisto was upset that Jaye attacked fellow senators during his attempts to save his career.
Koivisto was the only one of Jaye's colleagues to vote against the resolution to expel Jaye over a series of misdeeds. Jaye also voted against the measure, resulting in the 33-2 outcome that made him the first senator ever expelled in the 164-year history of the Michigan Senate.
Jaye's expulsion dramatically changes the standard for getting booted out of the Senate. Although the State Constitution gives the Senate much leeway, the unwritten rule had always been that a lawmaker must be guilty of a felony.
But Jaye was tossed out for a trio of drunken-driving misdemeanors, rude treatment of staff, storing lewd photos on his Senate laptop and two allegations of assault on his fiancee, Sonia Kloss.
"The standard is a pattern of misconduct," said Sen. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Livonia, who chaired the special committee that recommended Jaye's expulsion. "But future Senates are not bound by this," he insisted.
Craig Ruff, president of a nonpartisan think tank in Lansing, called the move "historic," partly because Jaye's removal was linked to his inability to get along with his colleagues.
"A precedent has been set that will put the senators and their successors in troubled water," Ruff said. "Likability and collegiality are now undeniably factors in expulsion. If you use this subjective criteria, there will be a lot of senators who will go through the same trial."
Sen. Burton Leland, D-Detroit, a personal friend of Jaye's, did not show up for Thursday's vote. Sen. George Hart, D-Dearborn, was there but didn't cast a vote and did not return phone calls afterward. Sen. Jackie Vaughn, D-Detroit, was absent due to illness.
The issue may never have come to a vote had Jaye accepted a deal to resign. Senate leaders said negotiations over a plan that would have let Jaye stay on the payroll until fall continued right up until the Senate vote.
Senate leaders said Jaye's attorneys pushed for a January quit date and even tried to get him a job on the state payroll as a condition of resignation. But no agreement was reached.
"It was principle over politics," said Jaye, who got up and spoke about a half-dozen times Thursday, including one rambling, 35-minute speech. "I'm not a quitter. The olive branch was very enticing, but I'm not going to sell out my constituents."
Jaye, a 13-year veteran of the Legislature from Macomb County's Washington Township, may get a chance to serve his constituents again. He is eligible to run in a special election to fill his vacated seat. And the Senate would have no choice but to seat him if he won.
Jaye said he hasn't decided whether he'll try to win his seat back. "I'm keeping all my options open," Jaye said. He added he is considering suing the state for depriving him of his livelihood.
The ousted senator said he is nearly bankrupt after piling up legal bills in excess of $30,000 over the past several weeks. That bill cannot be paid with campaign funds, according to state law.
Jaye said he needs to find work and has a number of options. "I might even work at a community college and help balance out all the communists and liberals by having a token conservative there," Jaye said.
Senate officials couldn't immediately say how much it cost to expel Jaye, but among the expenses were: round-trip tickets to Lansing and overnight lodging for four Sheriff's Department employees from Lee County, Fla. staff overtime and documentation and videotaping.
Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow, R-Port Huron, who was Jaye's chief critic, said he was saddened by Thursday's events.
"Dave Jaye is a man who is bright and had a lot potential. He just self-destructed," DeGrow said.
Jaye's colleagues ran out of excuses for the bad boy of the state Legislature
Detroit News
May 25, 2001
The expulsion of Sen. David Jaye, the first senator to be kicked out, signals that a new day has dawned at the Capitol -- as it did long ago in other workplaces.
For more than a century, many a contemptible scoundrel, cad, lout, drunk, and all-round bad apple has misbehaved in and around the Michigan Legislature and gotten away with it.
Wink, wink. No felony, no big deal, a pattern of bad conduct be damned. No more, thanks to a resounding, precedent-setting 33-2 vote to expel the Bad Boy of Michigan politics.
The scales of the Senate's arbitrary, frontier-like justice were tipped against Jaye in large part because of mistreatment of women--verbal abuse against Senate staffers and alleged physical abuse against his fiancee.
That, more than Jaye's drunken-driving convictions, was the final straw for Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow, the driving force behind the expulsion.
That, along with lewd photographs on Jaye's state-owned computer, is what assured the vote of Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith, D-Salem Township, a member of the special committee that recommended expulsion.
I was opposed to expulsion of Jaye, joining those calling for resignation and letting voters decide whether to return him.
But the DeGrow-led Senate has said it's a new era. A pattern of bad conduct is a breach of public trust and will not be tolerated in the workplace of the people.
Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus stepped up to the plate April 19, calling for Jaye to resign. He was willing to declare Jaye's conduct "not befitting a public servant."
Former GOP State Chairwoman Betsy DeVos was among the first prominent Michigan Republicans to call for Jaye's resignation. Current Chairman Rusty Hills called for resignation and said Jaye's conduct was contrary to the "noble calling" of public service.
But where, oh, where during the deliberations was the real leader of the party, the most powerful voice under the dome? Gov. John Engler repeatedly declined to opine on what the Senate should do.
On Wednesday, Charlie Cain, Lansing bureau chief for The Detroit News, encountered Engler outside the Capitol as Engler was walking to a farewell party for Director Tracy Mehan III of the Office of the Great Lakes.
Cain three times asked for Engler's views on what the Senate should do about Jaye. Each time, Engler rhapsodized about Mehan, who is joining the Bush administration.
Why did Engler shuffle off to Buffalo? Engler press secretary Susan Shafer said: "The governor respects the independence of the Senate. They're dealing with it." It did.
Jaye Out - Senator is first ever to be expelled
Detroit News
May 25, 2001
LANSING -- Defiant and combative to the end, Sen. David Jaye on Thursday became the first senator ever kicked out by his colleagues, who called him everything from "obnoxious" to "repugnant."
"The masquerade is over. The lies are exposed. The dignity of this office is retained," declared Sen. Leon Stille, R-Spring Lake, who introduced the resolution of expulsion for behavior unsuitable to his office.
After three hours of intense debate, it was approved by a resounding 33-2 vote. All of Jaye's 22 fellow Republicans voted for his ouster, as did 11 Democrats.
Those 33 votes -- seven more than were needed -- cancelled out the 54,116 votes Jaye received in winning re-election in his Macomb County district in 1998.
Jaye, a 43-year-old Republican from Washington Township, was himself the only senator who spoke in his defense and voted against the resolution.
"I never sold out to the political bosses and the special interest groups," said Jaye, who insisted he was expelled for his maverick political views.
"Do not throw me out," he implored his fellow senators just before they voted. "Do not take away the rights of the citizens who elected me."
Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow, R-Port Huron, who led the expulsion effort against Jaye, said the senator's pattern of misconduct clearly went over the line.
"He's a man who hits women, drives drunk, puts extreme pornography on his computer, repeatedly swears at staff, and by the way, at the end, lies," DeGrow said.
"He's not fit to serve in the Senate."
DeGrow said he "absolutely expects" Jaye to run in the special election to fill the vacancy. Should Jaye win, he would be seated and start out with a "clean slate" the leader added.
Senators say it was time for Jaye to face consequences
His expulsion showed the Senate's disgust with his personal misconduct, which included drunken-driving convictions and accusations of abuse
Grand Rapids Press
May 25, 2001
LANSING -- For many state senators who voted to expel Sen. David Jaye, Jaye's behavior had been too extreme and had gone on too long to allow him to keep his seat.
Thursday, the Senate voted 33-2 to remove Jaye, capping a turbulent six weeks that began with accusations Jaye had struck his fiancee and ended with his insistence he was being railroaded for his unpopular political views. At least 26 votes in the 38-member Senate were needed to force out Jaye, who became the first Michigan senator ever expelled.
"A male who not only hits but denies hitting a woman despite eyewitnesses is wrong. ... Being a senator doesn't make you immune to the consequences of your behavior," said Sen. Joanne Emmons, R-Big Rapids, who voted for expulsion.
Some, like state Sen. Glenn Steil, R-Grand Rapids, believe the Senate should have let the voters of Macomb County decide Jaye's fate in a similar fashion. Despite his feelings, Steil voted to expel, as did Sens. Ken Sikkema, R-Grandville, William Van Regenmorter, R-Georgetown Township, and Leon Stille, R-Ferrysburg.
Among the questioned behavior by the 43-year-old Jaye: three drunken-driving convictions, allegations he hit fiancee Sonia Kloss and "a recurring pattern of personal misconduct," including keeping photos of his topless fiancee on his Senate-issued laptop computer and accusations he verbally abused staff members.
The senator, a Republican from Macomb County's Washington Township, admitted he had made mistakes but said he was being pushed out because of clashes with Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow, R-Port Huron.
"I'm going into bankruptcy over trumped-up charges," Jaye said during his fight on the Senate floor to save his job. "Why? Because I've upset the political bosses and the special interests."
Jaye, a noisy, boastful, arch-conservative gadfly who has likened himself to a "junkyard dog," turned down requests from several senators to resign before the vote. At one point Thursday lawyers for Jaye and DeGrow discussed letting Jaye resign this fall, but no deal was ever struck.
Although Jaye pleaded with senators before the vote to censure him and let him keep his seat, DeGrow was able to get 11 Democrats to join 22 of the Senate's 23 Republicans in voting to expel Jaye. Democratic Sen. Donald Koivisto of Ironwood and Jaye were the only ones to oppose the resolution.
DeGrow said he had no doubt Jaye was guilty of the allegations in the resolution, including those that he struck Kloss.
"I am not going home to say that a man who hits women, drives drunk, has obscene pictures on his computer and swears at staff constantly" deserves to be in the Senate, DeGrow said.
If Jaye had been employed in the private sector, he would have been fired, said Sen. Ken Sikkema, R-Grandville. "The standards that we impose on ourselves must be higher than what we expect of our constituents," he said.
Koivisto said Jaye didn't deserve to be expelled because the allegations that Jaye had been in "a violent physical altercation" with his fiancee were never proved.
Jaye was never charged in Florida after being arrested April 12 in a dispute with Kloss.
"We are saying you are guilty even if you never were even charged," said Koivisto, the only member of the six-member, bipartisan investigating committee to vote against recommending Jaye be expelled.
Koivisto called for censuring Jaye and taking away many of his perks of office, including access to his office computers.
Jaye said after the vote that he may run again for the Senate. GOP Gov. John Engler is expected to call a special election to fill Jaye's seat. Jaye also said he's thinking of filing suit over his expulsion, but admitted his current legal bills may make that impossible.
Kloss, Jaye's fiancee, said she and Jaye's life has been "turned upside down."
"He is a good politician who works hard for his constituents," Kloss told The Detroit News. "This is like a death in his family. Politics is his first love."
DeGrow said other senators don't have to fear a brush with the law or a personal problem will get them cast out of the Senate. He said he repeatedly tried to help Jaye work on his problems, but they finally became overwhelming.
Jaye still faces a June 7 hearing in Macomb County on whether his probation for last year's drunken driving conviction should be revoked. If it is, Jaye could face another 101/2 months in jail.
Bay County Prosecutor Joseph Sheeran has said he hasn't ruled out bringing an assault charge against Jaye for a Nov. 19 dispute with Kloss at a Bay County gas station.
Jaye said a tape from the gas station's video camera shows he didn't strike her as the pair walked through the station's mini-mart.
The Senate also passed a resolution that would destroy copies of Jaye's computer files now on backup tape. The photos of Kloss will be kept on a CD-ROM in case they are needed for legal reasons.
Sen. George Hart, D-Dearborn, listened to the debate but did not vote. Democratic Sens. Burton Leland and Jackie Vaughn, both of Detroit, were absent.
Voters in his district had mixed reactions to Thursday's vote.
"He seems pretty charismatic, but I think he's in too deep now. He's put himself out into the twilight zone, all the things he's been doing," said Nick Syros, 33, owner of Jimmy Dimitri's Family Dining in Washington Township.
Retired union official Dick Krolewski, 66, doesn't think Jaye's done a very good job, but isn't sure it should have been the Senate that ousted him. "I'm torn between the people voting him out and the Senate kicking him out," he said.
Gast says he never liked Jaye much
St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
May 25, 2001
ST. JOSEPH -- State Sen. Harry Gast has never been accused of being a member of David Jaye's fan club.
So Gast had no regrets over Jaye's ouster Thursday from the state Senate.
"He was his own worst enemy," Gast said this morning from his Lincoln Township home. "It (Jaye's indiscretions) just didn't bode well for the perception of what the Legislature is about."
Gast said he never cared for Jaye from the moment the Macomb County Republican arrived in Lansing as a state House member in 1988. Caustic, cocky and given to bombast, Jaye could be annoying to representatives and senators who are more methodical, gentlemanly and thoughtful, Gast said.
He said Jaye represented the "ultra ultras" in a part of Macomb County that has sympathies with the Michigan Militia.
Jaye's drunk driving arrests, public spats with his girlfriend, nude photos of her on his computer screen, a lack of remorse and his rudeness weighed heavy on senators' minds, Gast said.
Gast said Jaye can run again for the seat in a special election. If he wins, Gast said, "We'll give him a chance to be a normal person. If not, we'll kick his a-- out again."
Jaye, 43, is the first Michigan state senator ever ousted by his colleagues. Gast joined 32 senators in voting to eject Jaye. Jaye and state Sen. Don Koivisto of Ironwood voted against the ejection.
Area’s senator explains decision - Jaye expelled
Ludington Daily News
May 25, 2001
A new, higher standard of conduct has been set for Michigan state senators with the expulsion of David Jaye Thursday afternoon, Sen. Bill Schuette, R-Midland, said shortly after the Senate voted to expel the Macomb County Republican.
Jaye, 43, has been under investigation by a special Senate committee for three drunken driving convictions, allegations that he hit fiancee Sonia Kloss and ‘‘a recurring pattern of personal misconduct,’’ including verbally abusing staff members and having six photos of his topless fiancee on his Senate-issued laptop computer.
"The new standard of conduct means no longer are you only to be expelled if you commit a felony," said Schuette, who had remained very quiet on the matter during the past six weeks since the abuse allegations arose on the heals of Jaye beating a drunken driving charge.
Schuette said the new standard is a good one if it is applied uniformly and dispassionately to everybody in the Senate, not just those who might not be well-liked.
Furthermore, Jaye had escaped serious reprimand in the Senate until his problems piled up and his rap sheet grew. Schuette cautioned the new standard is more stringent than that.
"It is not a cumulative scorecard. If it was cumulative it would mean we would allow a senator to strike a woman once and be allowed to stay in the Senate," he said.
The new standards say such actions even once are grounds for possible expulsion.
Schuette, who is eying a run at the Michigan attorney general’s office in 2002, said he kept quiet until now because it would have been inappropriate to talk about it before the Senate committee presented its report.
Schuette was among the 33 who voted for expulsion.
The matter, he said, sucked out what political oxygen remained in Lansing during the past six weeks, causing little else to be accomplished.
"Next week, hopefully, we’ll start fresh," he said.
Hammerstrom hoped Jaye would resign, avoid vote
Daily Telegram, The (Adrian, MI)
May 26, 2001
TEMPERANCE -- The state senate's historic vote to expel Sen. David Jaye on Thursday was one Beverly Hammerstrom R-Temperance, did not want to make, but she said she knew she had to.
"Nobody wanted to cast that vote, she said. "I'm sorry it came to that."
Hammerstrom said she had hoped Jaye would resign, rather than force the Senate to proceed with its first ever expulsion vote.
"I wished he would have chosen to go that route," she said.
She does not feel guilty about her vote though, and said it was the right thing to do.
"This kind of behavior is totally unacceptable," she said. "I felt it was a justified vote."
In dealing with Jaye on the Senate floor, Hammerstrom said she has heard Jaye yell at staff members and has had constituents call her, asking about Jaye's bad behavior.
"I think we have sent a clear message that as Senators, we should not abuse the power that is given to us."
After watching the testimony closely, Hammerstrom was convinced Jaye did not belong in the Senate and that he had indeed assaulted his fiancee, Sonia Kloss.
"I think it was something we had to do," she said. "As a woman, to do otherwise would have sent the wrong message."
There is a possibility Jaye could end up back in his Senate seat, after the 33-2 vote on Thursday to expel him. Jaye is eligible to run again in the special election to fill his vacant seat. He could also run in 2002.
"If the voters send him back, hopefully he would learn that there is a standard of behavior he has to adhere to," she said. "We will move on."
David Jaye: His own doing
Ex-senator's conduct draws the expulsion he deserves
Grand Rapids Press
May 26, 2001
State senators decided to clean their own house with an overwhelming vote to expel Sen. David Jaye. After years of behavior by the Macomb County Republican that fell well below what should be expected of a state legislator, the Senate's action was fully appropriate.
The vote against Mr. Jaye was 33-2, with one of the two "no" votes being his own. The virtual unanimity reflects the level of embarrassment Mr. Jaye's conduct -- both public and private -- brought upon the whole legislative body, coupled with the level of animus he built up with colleagues over the years.
Three misdemeanor drunk driving convictions, serving jail time as a member of the Senate, public altercations requiring police intervention, storing pictures of a semi-nude woman on his state-owned computer and having obscenity-laced conversations with female Senate employees are not felonies, but certainly not conduct becoming any elected official, much less a senator.
Because none of his transgressions led to a felony conviction, Mr. Jaye contends his expulsion lowers the bar on what it takes to kick a legislator out of office. He is wrong. While a felony conviction would warrant an expulsion vote -- indeed, the state constitution may make removal automatic -- misdemeanor convictions cannot be ignored as if they don't matter.
It would not make sense to allow a legislator to be convicted of a series of serious misdemeanor offenses -- and drunk driving surely would fall into that category -- yet remain in office because no felony offense is on his rap sheet.
It would have been better for Mr. Jaye to resign or for his Washington Township constituents to have had a say on his fitness to continue representing their interests. But senators have an obligation to deal with the conduct of Senate members, particularly those whose actions tarnish the integrity and credibility of the institution.
Senate rules say that when the chamber is confronted with violations concerning ethics and conduct by one of its members, the Committee on Government Operations shall determine if the allegations merit a fact-finding hearing and punishment. It is up to Senate members to determine that punishment. In Mr. Jaye's case, it was expulsion after three weeks of hearings by a special Senate committee.
The Senate must now apply the same standards used to oust Mr. Jaye to all others legislators. There can be no sense that Mr. Jaye was singled out for punishment because his politics or his personality rubbed many of his colleagues the wrong way.
Though the Senate has expelled Mr. Jaye, the people who voted him into office can still have a say in his fate. If his constituents are not happy with the Senate verdict, they can re-elect him. There is no law barring Mr. Jaye from running in an election to fill the seat from which he has been ousted.
In any such return by Mr. Jaye, however, he would have a long way to go in regaining the trust and respect that routinely are accorded to Senate members. Nothing in Mr. Jaye's record suggests he is up to that challenge, or that he ever will be.
Jaye's ouster spurs ally to go after DeGrow
Detroit News
May 27, 2001
Ultraconservative political consultant Joe Munem is furious at State Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow, R-Port Huron, for working to "railroad" his pal, Sen. David Jaye, R-Washington Township, out of office last week. Munem vows to "get" DeGrow -- politically, of course -- when the senator runs for attorney general next year.
"DeGrow just gave me a license to stalk him," said Munem, 36, a part-time political hatchet man who specializes in digging up dirt and publishing inflammatory literature against rivals of candidates who hire him to help get them elected -- as Jaye did. "I'm going to be on him and watching every move he makes."
Reminded that stalking is illegal in Michigan, Munem backed off his statement. "Just say I'll be keeping a close eye on DeGrow when he comes to Macomb County, and I'll be asking questions," he said. "Nobody's hired me yet. But if somebody runs against him, I'll gladly throw in (with that person). I'm going to work to prevent him from getting votes, whatever way I can."
DeGrow is leaving the Senate next year and will seek the GOP nomination for state attorney general in 2002. Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor are chosen in a primary election. Each party then fills out its statewide general election ticket at conventions.
DeGrow wasn't exactly alone Thursday in giving Jaye the boot on a rather decisive 33-2 vote. DeGrow says he's neither alarmed nor surprised by Munem's threat of a personal vendetta. He points out that Macomb is just one of 83 counties where he'll campaign if he's nominated, and the positive feedback he's had from his role in Jaye's expulsion far outweighs the negative.
"I've already been threatened and harassed by some people around that idiot we just kicked out," DeGrow said. "Someone even floated a rumor that I was responsible for a murder that occurred 30 years ago in Port Huron. Other committee members received threatening calls, too. But there comes a time when you have to stand up to the bullies and the liars."
DeGrow makes no secret of his disdain for his former colleague. "What's ironic is that Jaye counts on other people playing fair with him and then his backers play dirty," he said. "Like the photos of his (Jaye's) fiancee that were on his computer. Jaye knows I won't release them to the public, so he tells people they're just harmless, tasteless pictures. He knows -- and I know -- they're more than that. He's very manipulative."
Munem's full-time job is communications director for Warren, but he moonlights in his other role. He sees Jaye as a martyr, the hero of "white, middle-class males who feel disfranchised." During Jaye's 1997 Senate campaign, Munem wrote a handout that said of Jaye's rival: "Jesse Jackson has a friend in Macomb County."
"No one defends Jaye's actions," Munem said in reference to the ex-senator's drunk driving, mistreatment of aides and alleged attacks on his fiancee. "He's been to my house, and my own mom won't vote for him if he runs again. He was wrong, but this wasn't the way to punish him."
Expelled senator looking for work -- and an apology
David Jaye may seek the Macomb County seat he lost when fellow senators expelled him
Grand Rapids Press
May 27, 2001
STERLING HEIGHTS -- Out of the Michigan Legislature for the first time in 13 years, David Jaye said Saturday that he is looking for a job and an apology from the Senate members who voted to expel him.
But the archconservative Republican from Macomb County's Washington Township said he hadn't decided whether he would try to get his job back via a lawsuit, or by running to fill the vacancy created by his expulsion Thursday.
The Senate voted 33-2, with one abstention and two members absent, to strip Jaye of the 12th Senate District seat he had held since 1997. The vote capped a turbulent six weeks that began with accusations Jaye had struck his fiancee and ended with his insistence he was being railroaded for his unpopular political views.
"That wasn't a fair fight. It wasn't the American way," Jaye told reporters Saturday. "I would like an apology to my fiancee from (Senate Majority Leader) Dan DeGrow and Sen. (Thaddeus) McCotter."
DeGrow, R-Port Huron, emerged as Jaye's harshest critic leading up to the first-ever expulsion of a Michigan state senator. McCotter, R-Livonia, headed the bipartisan committee that voted 5-1 Thursday to recommend Jaye's ouster.
Messages left Saturday at the homes of DeGrow and his spokesman, Aaron Keesler, were not immediately returned.
Jaye, 43, came under scrutiny for three drunken driving convictions, allegations he hit fiancee Sonia Kloss and "a recurring pattern of personal misconduct," including accusations he verbally abused staff members and having photos of a topless Kloss on his Senate-issued laptop computer.
Jaye said he was denied due process throughout the investigation and was "sure looking at" pursuing legal action or trying to regain his Senate seat in a special election to be scheduled by Gov. John Engler.
"I don't know if I have the money for a special election. Yes, I have the stomach, the heart and the volunteer base to run," Jaye said.
But he also said he owes his three attorneys $80,000 and is trying to arrange a payment plan -- as well as find work.
"I'm looking for a job right now. I've got a couple calls from small businesses," Jaye said. "I've got a number of options I'm going to pursue," including possibly becoming a community college teacher to "balance out all the communists and liberals that are usually at community colleges."
Jaye turned down requests from several senators to resign before the expulsion vote. At one point, Jaye's lawyers proposed a deal that would have let him draw his $77,400 salary through the end of this year -- but not allow him to carry out any Senate duties -- then resign effective Jan. 2, 2002. In return, the Senate would pay some of his legal bills.
But, Jaye said Saturday: "I didn't take the money. Some people would have seen that as an admission of guilt."
DeGrow has said he had no doubt Jaye was guilty of the allegations in the resolution, including those that he struck Kloss.
"I am not going home to say that a man who hits women, drives drunk, has obscene pictures on his computer and swears at staff constantly" deserves to be in the Senate, DeGrow said Thursday.
Jaye was investigated but not charged after being arrested April 12 in a dispute with Kloss in Fort Myers, Fla. Authorities there said they could not build an effective case because Kloss did not want to press charges.
Jaye still faces a June 7 hearing in Macomb County on whether his probation for a 2000 drunken driving conviction should be revoked. If it is, Jaye could face another 101/2 months in jail.
Bay County Prosecutor Joseph Sheeran has said he hasn't ruled out bringing an assault charge against Jaye for a Nov. 19 dispute with Kloss at a Bay County gas station.
'Exclusive' interview again & again
Grand Rapids Press
May 28, 2001
Sonia Kloss refused to testify during the expulsion hearing of her fiancee, deposed state Sen. David Jaye.
But she made herself available for several "exclusive" interviews with Detroit broadcast and print media outlets Thursday.
Radio station WWJ said one of its reporters had spoken "exclusively" with Kloss in Macomb County Thursday morning. And during its 10 p.m. newscast that night, television station WJBK said it also had spoken "exclusively" with Kloss Thursday.
She appeared on camera and denied that Jaye had struck her in Florida or in Bay County.
Those were two of the charges that got Jaye booted from the Senate.
WWJ said Kloss told one of its reporters that Jaye was depressed over the expulsion hearing and would never be the same again.
We can only hope.
Martyr in the making?
The Blade
Toledo, Ohio
May 29, 2001
David Jaye is by most accounts, a mean drunk and an otherwise thoroughly obnoxious individual, but that doesn't justify expelling him from the Michigan Senate for misconduct. The people who elected him should have been allowed to decide his fate, and the risk now is that he will become a martyr who will be right back in the legislature via a special election.
The extent to which Mr. Jaye became persona non grata among his Senate colleagues was reflected in the last week's 33-2 vote to kick him out. Twenty-two of his fellow Republicans voted with 11 Democrats in the majority, so it can't be said the expulsion was the result of any partisan vendetta.
Rather, Senate Republican leaders seemed to be sick and tired of dealing with a long-standing pattern of misconduct by Mr. Jaye - three convictions for drunken driving, an arrest in Florida for allegedly beating up his fiancée and lying about it, and a record of abuse toward staff members.
Such disreputable behavior, plus the revelation that he kept nude photos of his fiancée on a Senate computer, mark Mr. Jaye as the kind of guy few would want to be associated with. But the fact remains that he was duly elected to the Senate and the voters of his Macomb County district should have had a say on whether he stayed.
Senate leaders had a couple of alternatives in dealing with Mr. Jaye. They could have censured him, taking away all his Senate privileges save his right to vote. Or they could have found and financed a candidate to defeat him in the next primary election. Instead, goaded by Mr. Jaye's in-you-face defiance and absolute refusal to get professional help or even admit he had done anything wrong, they chose the easier path of expulsion.
Now Mr. Jaye is eligible to be a candidate in a special election that must be called to replace him. Judging by comments from supporters in the suburban district, his populist brand of religion and anti-tax, pro-gun, and anti-abortion fervor is popular. He could be back in office soon, once again sticking his thumb in the eye of the Senate establishment.
The risk for a political body in expelling a troublesome colleague - Mr. Jaye is the first in Michigan Senate history - is that it could encourage similar action in the future by a vindictive political majority.
And in Mr. Jaye's case, the tactic may accomplish just the opposite of the desired goal.Expelled state senator's probation in question
The Blade - Toledo, Ohio
May 29, 2001
Mount Clemens, Mich. - David Jaye, expelled from the State Senate on Thursday, faces a probation hearing that could carry political ramifications, Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga said.
A June 7 hearing is set in Macomb County on whether Mr. Jaye's probation for a 2000 drunken driving conviction should be revoked. Prosecutors are expected to try to show Mr. Jaye violated his driving restrictions.
The Washington Township Republican could be ordered to spend another 10 1/2 months in jail.
Mr. Jaye said Saturday he might run during a special election to fill the rest of his term. A date for the vote has not been set.
Senate's new rules rile Rude
Cheboygan Daily Tribune
May 29, 2001
Thursday was sort of a breeze. It was so quiet and smooth that I even had a chance to get outside and finish planting the cubbyhole garden here at the Tribune.
But then it hit me: The state Senate was hearing debate on the expulsion of Sen. David Jaye, a Republican who has been in legal troubles during the past few years. I rushed indoors and called up the live Senate debate on my computer to watch the proceedings.
Indeed, after long discussions by Jaye and his colleagues, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to expel Jaye from amongst their numbers. Almost as soon as the vote was taken my phone rang. I picked it up and was immediately assaulted by a string of obscenities.
Mr. Rude had apparently been watching as well.
I listened for a few moments and hung up the phone. It rang again almost immediately.
"Why'd you hang up on me?" a calmer Rude asked.
"It was the only way to get you to shut up for a few moments so you would ask a question instead of ranting and raving," I replied. "That way I could get a word in edgewise."
"Did you see what they just did to David Jaye?" Rude asked. "Thanks for the link to the Senate, by the way. I watched it on my computer."
"So did I," I replied. "What did you think?"
"I think the Senate just sank to a new low," Rude stated. "I didn't care much for the gummint before this. Now I just added the Senate to my list of bad gummint entities."
"I think we agree on something, finally," I commented dryly. "What's your beef with the Senate?"
"Well, they just kicked out a convicted drunk driver, a man who was accused of mistreating his staff, allegedly beat up his fiance` and had topless photos of her on his state-owned laptop computer," Rude recited. "I can see why the Senate was mad at him, but those aren't reasons to kick him out."
"You're right, Rude," I said. "Granted, he spent some 45 days behind bars for one of the drunk driving charges, but he was able to retain his seat on the Senate. And the physical abuse charges were dropped by prosecutors in Florida for lack of evidence, although Jaye has admitted to pushing her outside a Florida convenience store."
"My question is why the Senate kicked him out at all," Rude reasoned. "He didn't break any rules."
Rude's rationalization was on the mark. He had done his homework. He knew, as I do, that the Senate does not have any rules of conduct for retaining your seat in that chamber of the Legislature.
"You're correct, Rude," I said. "In fact, the only rules that the Senate has concerning conduct is that in order to seek a seat as a candidate you cannot be a convicted felon."
"Exactly," Rude quickly replied. "In fact, all of the crimes Jaye was convicted of were misdemeanors. He never once was actually convicted of a felony. So the question is, again, why did he get kicked out of the Senate?"
"Guess his colleagues got tired of his conduct and made a threat to expel him," I reasoned. "The last time they threatened a senator with expulsion, the guy up and quit. He had been stripped of all of his committee assignments, his staff had all been taken away from him and his office funds had been all but cut. All he was left with is a laptop and a desk.
"I think the Senate was hoping that Jaye would resign his seat, as had happened in the earlier case," I continued. "But Jaye, a self-described junkyard dog, wasn't about to roll over and play the game that the Senate wanted him to."
"So he fought back, called their bluff, and now the whole game of state politics is changed, right?" Rude queried.
"Correct again," I said. "Now if any of the other senators commits a misdemeanor or yells at a staff member or downloads a questionable photo on their hard drive they are subject to expulsion as well."
"Jaye thought the leadership was out to get him," Rude said. "The gummint has a way of doing that, you know. I have told you that for years."
"In this case I believe you, Rude," I said humbly. "In the case of black helicopters and the rest, I don't believe a word of the conspiracy theories.
"But what this particular Senate has done is to have raised the bar on the conduct of its members," I continued before Rude could go off on a tangent. "The senators have set a new level of conduct that is not limited by any official rules or regulations, and now, if the leadership dislikes someone enough, can vote them out of the Senate with scant reason. And that is simply wrong. It takes the decision on representation in the state government from the hands of the people and places it into the hands of the Senate."
"I couldn't have said it any better," Rude said. "Oh -- one other thing. Do you know what district Jaye represented?"
"Somewhere in Macomb County, I think," I said.
"I might move down there," Rude replied. "I could run for his Senate seat and give the Senate a real run for its money. They wouldn't know what to do with me there, and I sure would put the new unwritten rules of conduct to the test."
Race for Jaye's Senate seat gets crowded
Ousted senator considers running for seat he just lost
Detroit News
May 29, 2001
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP -- The race for David Jaye's state Senate seat is already starting to get crowded -- even though no date has been set for the special election to fill the seat he vacated when kicked out of office by the full Senate last week.
Two Republican state representatives, Alan Sanborn and Sal Rocca, and former GOP sheriff's candidate Steve Thomas will more than likely square off in the Republican primary in their quest to replace Jaye as the senator from northern Macomb County.
Thomas and Sanborn indicated this weekend they are considering a run for the seat Jaye vacated when he was expelled for a series of drunken driving arrests, alleged abuse of Senate employees, soft porn on his state-issued laptop computer and a question of domestic abuse. Rocca, of Sterling Heights, was unavailable for comment this weekend, but Macomb Republican Party Chairwoman Janice Nearon said he'll run.
Jaye could also run again for his own vacant seat -- and some political analysts say he could win a crowded race. When Jaye won the Republican primary for state Senate in 1997, he received only 35 percent of the vote, but it was enough to defeat 10 other GOP candidates.
Jaye could pull off another victory like that, assuming he is not in jail, said political analyst Richard Sabaugh, a former colleague of Jaye's on the Macomb County Board of Commissioners.
Jaye has a pretrial hearing June 6 before 41st-A District Court Judge Douglas Shepherd of Shelby Township on charges that he violated probation on a drunken driving conviction.
If Shepherd eventually ships Jaye back to jail, that ends his political career, Sabaugh predicted. "If he ends up in jail, he can't possibly win," Sabaugh said. "That's just too much. He can't survive that."
For now, Jaye said over the weekend that he's unsure if he'll try to regain his old seat. "I don't know if I have the money for a special election," he told a Sterling Heights news conference, adding that he owes $80,000 to his three lawyers and needs a job.
That would leave the three high-profile Republicans to battle over the vacancy.
State and local Republican leaders say they won't meddle in the Republican primary -- pushing a consensus candidate, for example -- even if Jaye runs. The winner of the GOP primary is almost assured a victory against his Democratic opponent in the conservative, 12th state Senate district.
Thomas and Sanborn said they would soon make their intentions official.
"My election committee and I have discussed it and we're looking at it very seriously," Thomas said. "I'll check with the party leaders to see what their favor is. I'd hate to get into something if no one is going to support me. But I would be a good senator, with my experience in the public and private sector."
Thomas, 55, beat Sanborn's brother, Mark, last August in the Republican primary for county sheriff. But Thomas got steamrollered by Democrat Mark Hackel in the general election. Thomas is a former sheriff's detective who now heads up investigations for the Michigan Basic Property Insurance Association.
Sanborn said he is "seriously" considering a run for Jaye's seat.
"I've been encouraged by a lot of people in the business community, by my family, the NRA (National Rifle Association) and Right to Life and I will make a decision next week," Sanborn said.
Sanborn, 43, of Richmond was elected to the House in 1998 to fill the seat Jaye left when he was elected to the Senate.
Rocca finished third in the 1997 Senate Republican primary to succeed Doug Carl, who died in office. Jaye won that contest and Carl's widow, Maria Carl, finished second. Sabaugh and Nearon doubt Maria Carl would be a factor if she runs this time because she's done poorly in two elections since then.
Sabaugh said another possible candidate is Rocca's wife, Sue, a Macomb County commissioner. Sue Rocca has also served in the state House and will run for Jaye's seat if her husband doesn't, Sabaugh said.
Jaye faces probation hearing
Grand Rapids Press
May 29, 2001
MOUNT CLEMENS -- Expelled state Senator David Jaye still faces a probation hearing that could send him to jail.
A June 7 hearing is set in Macomb County on whether Jaye's probation for a 2000 drunken driving conviction should be revoked. If it is, the Washington Township Republican could face another 101/2 months in jail.
Jaye, 43, came under scrutiny for three drunken-driving convictions, allegations he hit fiancee Sonia Kloss and "a recurring pattern of personal misconduct," including accusations he verbally abused staff members and having photos of a topless Kloss on his Senate-issued laptop computer.
The probation hearing will include some information disclosed during the Senate hearings in Lansing. Many of the same witnesses will be called by prosecutors trying to show Jaye violated his driving restrictions.
Probation was set last July, when Jaye was sentenced to 45 days in jail for drunken driving.
Will Jaye rise again?
Maverick's chances of re-election are good despite sordid Senate expulsion, experts say
Detroit News
May 30, 2001
LANSING -- State Sen. Leon Stille winced as he read the front page of his newspaper April 13.
Sen. David Jaye had been arrested in Florida for allegedly assaulting his fiancée Sonia Kloss -- again.
"I thought, 'Oh my God. Here we go again,' " recalled Stille, R-Spring Lake. "He's not just harming the institution, but also what people expect of legislators. They certainly don't expect a woman-beater to basically get away with it."
Stille quickly phoned his Lansing office and directed his staff to prepare a resolution calling for the expulsion of Jaye, R-Washington Township.
And that was how the Senate's struggle with what to do about David Jaye began.
Before it ended last week with a 33-2 vote to expel the maverick lawmaker, a Senate committee acted as judge and jury in cases prosecutors in two states wouldn't touch. Jaye's critics were subjected to dirt-digging expeditions and accusations of political career-building. The Senate changed its own unwritten definition of unacceptable behavior. And Republican lawmakers ran the risk of raising the ire of their party's right wing.
For all the political energy that went into ousting Jaye, however, he may be back. The man who once compared the Senate committee's hearings to "being awake at my own autopsy" is by no means a political corpse just yet.
Jaye told The Detroit News Tuesday his decision to run again for the Senate comes down to one condition: "I need to be able to tell my supporters we have at least a 40-60 chance to win before we go."
"I am not being coy and I cannot run again just to spite enemies who have brutalized me. I am calling my people to see if they're still going to be there for me."
Political experts say he would stand a good chance of winning in his conservative Macomb County district. Under the state constitution, the Senate would have no choice but to seat him, with a clean slate, according to legislators who have looked into the matter.
Political experts say he would stand a good chance of winning in his conservative Macomb County district. Under the state constitution, the Senate would have no choice but to seat him, with a clean slate, according to legislators who have looked into the matter.
Although such an outcome is uncertain, the very possibility puts an ironic twist on the six-week political drama that led to Thursday's expulsion vote. The focus on Jaye sucked the political oxygen out of the Capitol, leaving even a half-billion-dollar hole in the state budget to take a back seat.
GOP led the way
From the beginning, it was Jaye's fellow Republicans who led the charge for his ouster.
"This is strange," Philip Thomas, Jaye's lead attorney, said at one point in the committee hearings. "In the Nixon thing, it was the Democrats leading the charge. In the Clinton thing, it was the Republicans. But here it's Jaye's own party turning on him."
GOP Gov. John Engler stayed strictly out of the issue, but prominent Republicans who called for Jaye to resign included former state Republican Party Chairwoman Betsy DeVos, who once campaigned door-to-door for Jaye, and Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus, a former leader in the Senate. DeVos put it bluntly: "Men who beat up women are not role models."
To Senate Minority Leader John Cherry, a Clio Democrat, there was no mystery to this. The Senate has a tradition of letting the party with a troublesome lawmaker take the lead in disciplinary actions, he said.
Cherry pointed out that he directed the 1998 expulsion proceedings against Sen. Henry Stallings, D-Detroit. Stallings, who had used a Senate staffer to help run his Detroit gallery of African-American art, resigned before a vote could take place.
"We don't want this type of situation to become a partisan issue," Cherry said.
In Jaye's case it wasn't. When the vote was taken, all of Jaye's fellow Republicans voted to expel him, as did all but one Democrat.
Alleged assaults key
Jaye's expulsion resolution included a long list of misdeeds, including three drunken-driving convictions, abuse of female Senate staff, repeated use of profanity and storing semi-nude photographs of Kloss on his state-owned computer.
But it was the two alleged assaults that were his undoing. Ironically, officials in Michigan and Florida declined to bring charges in either instance. The Florida case that got the expulsion move under way was dropped in the middle of the hearings after Kloss recanted her statement that Jaye had assaulted her.
Even so, the Michigan Senate committee heard the testimony of Florida sheriff's deputies, listened to the tape of Kloss's 911 call, and saw a videotape of Kloss explaining away the incident.
Most committee members didn't find her testimony credible.
The other case was Jaye's alleged assault of Kloss on Nov. 19 near Bay City. Although the county prosecutor hadn't pursued the matter, the committee heard the testimony of witnesses at a gas station where the incident occurred and of state troopers who stopped Jaye's car afterward. The committee also viewed a security videotape that that they found inconclusive.
Bay County Prosecutor Joseph Sheeran told the committee he didn't initially have a case against Jaye. But he said he was still considering bringing charges against Jaye based on the testimony of additional witnesses.
Here is where the charges of political career-making began to fly. Jaye accused Sheeran of keeping the case alive to further his own political ambitions. Sheeran has been mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate for attorney general. He denied doing anything other than his job.
Jaye also charged that Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow, R-Port Huron, was trying to build name identification for his bid for the GOP nomination for attorney general. And he said Sen. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Livonia, who chaired the special panel, was motivated by his desire to win a congressional seat.
For his part, McCotter said: "Nothing good came from this for anybody. I've lost political capital, and DeGrow has too, by irritating the right wing of the party."
Jaye's outspoken anti-tax, anti-affirmative action, anti-welfare, pro-gun stances are embraced by many conservative voters. Jaye has long maintained his colleagues were trying to run him out of the Senate because of those views.
DeGrow said his political aspirations played no role in his decision-making.
Bill Ballenger, a former GOP state senator who edits a newsletter called "Inside Michigan Politics," suggested that term limits played a role in Jaye's expulsion. Until now, expulsion has not been considered unless someone was convicted of a felony. Jaye was never charged with a felony. What is different now, Ballenger said, is that next year, 27 of the 38 senators are barred from running again.
"The two-thirds that won't be back were more willing to give him the boot," Ballenger said.
Craig Ruff, president of a nonpartisan Lansing think tank, said it's a stretch to think term limits played a role. He pointed out that the vote to expel Jaye was 33-2.
In fighting the charges against him, Jaye charged that he was being railroaded by his political enemies.
DeGrow said Jaye was behind efforts to dig up dirt on himself and other senators. John Mangopoulos, a conservative Lansing cable-TV talk-show host, offered a $2,000 bounty for tips on illegal activities of senators. A Macomb County group, Citizens for Legal Reform, hired a private investigating firm to have gumshoes dig into the backgrounds of senators.
DeGrow said Jaye's associates called his neighbors, friends and the media to say DeGrow was a suspect in a 1971 murder.
"They literally called the family of the victim from that unsolved murder and told them I might be a suspect," DeGrow said. "He accused me of murder, for Gods' sake. He has no shame, no decency."
Sen. Stille said "Jaye and his circle of goons" looked into a five-year-old fatal accident involving his daughter, who was 27 at the time. Stille's daughter, who had been out celebrating her brother's birthday, was ticketed for impaired driving but absolved of responsibility in the crash.
"The day of the vote, they faxed me five or six pages of original stories from my daughter's accident as a means of intimidation, to influence my vote," Stille said. "It really annoyed me."
Sen. Donald Koivisto, D-Ironwood, was the only committee member to vote against Jaye's expulsion resolution. But before the full Senate vote even he faulted Jaye for the smear campaign.
"Even the Mafia leaves people's families alone," he said. "With the way he's handling this, his advisers must have been giving him dumb pills everyday."
Jaye seeks unemployment pay
Officials said he couldn't collect, ex-senator says
Detroit New
May 30, 2001
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP -- David Jaye applied for unemployment pay Tuesday, but in the meantime he is looking for a job because he doesn't expect to get the benefits.
It's $300 a week the Macomb County Republican says he's entitled to because "I got fired" from a $77,400-a-year job as a state senator.
Jaye, 43 and out of work for the first time since he was 15, applied for benefits at an unemployment office on Van Dyke in Sterling Heights.
"They fired me, shut off my phones, changed the locks and told eight people on my staff to get out. It's not like this was an election loss. I was paying unemployment taxes before I was a legislator, but I'm not going to get anything."
Jaye, neatly groomed and wearing a business suit, said he was told by unemployment officials he could not collect. The official rejection could come today.
"They told me legislators are exempt from collecting unemployment, even though I've been paying taxes almost 30 years, whether it be as a paperboy or dishwasher for the Ram's Horn or as a guy trying to make a living selling homes."
Jaye said his bills include $80,000 in legal fees incurred during Senate hearings. The hearings led to his ouster Thursday because of three drunken-driving convictions and accusations that he assaulted his fiancee.
He said he has been contacted by a community college about teaching and is considering offers to be a "government relations officer" for some companies. He declined to be more specific.
Jaye also is working with headhunters and executive search groups, and on Tuesday posted his resume on monster.com and other employment Web sites.
"It's hard to put on your best face to find a job when you've been brutalized so badly," Jaye said. "How often can you keep saying a clean shirt is clean? And if it's clean, how many times do you have to keep washing it?"
Until he finds employment, Jaye will work out in gyms, do laundry, fish for trout and spend time with fiancee Sonia Kloss, who is urging him to run again for the Senate.
On Tuesday, the expelled senator met a handful of people in the unemployment line who volunteered to work on a Jaye re-election campaign.
Carl Unger, an unemployed airplane mechanic from Sterling Heights who also was applying for benefits Tuesday, said: "I'll do whatever he would want for me to do to get him re-elected because I feel like he got a raw deal. He could have easily walked away without all the questions. ... But he hung in there and took the abuse for us."
Joseph Potemski, an out-of-work die maker from Sterling Heights, said: "He was kicked out for stuff he didn't do. I'll do anything to get him re-elected -- pass out fliers, go door-to-door, whatever."
Vote to expel Senator Jaye cast to maintain integrity of the office
Grand Rapids Press
June 2, 2001
State Sen. Ken Sikkema:
The people of Michigan have instructed the Senate to be in charge of the qualifications of its members. This is not a responsibility we have selectively chosen to impose upon ourselves -- the state constitution requires it.
Senate rules, which I voted to adopt when I became a senator, expand upon our constitutional obligation by stating that each senator must act to maintain the integrity of the office of senator and the entire institution.
The rules further state that all senators have an obligation to maintain the integrity of the institution by enforcing this rule on our colleagues and discharging our constitutional obligation to judge the qualifications of senators.
Senator David Jaye engaged in a pattern of behavior that was so disreputable as to warrant his expulsion from the Michigan Senate ("Senators say it was time for Jaye to face consequences," Press, May 25).
He has had multiple criminal convictions; served time in jail while a member of the Senate; been involved in public altercations requiring police interventions; and has compiled a sordid record of abusive and intimidating behavior to individuals less powerful than himself.
He has, moreover, misused his position as a state senator in a variety of ways in many of these situations.
Some say that he should not have been expelled because he had not been convicted of a felony, and that a felony conviction is, has been, and should be the standard for expulsion.
This is a myth. Nowhere in the constitution or in the Senate rules do we find such a standard.
The standard is a level of behavior that fails to "maintain the integrity and responsibility of his or her office." It is simply unacceptable to tolerate a pattern of behavior that clearly brings dishonor on the Senate because it doesn't include a felony conviction.
This does not mean that every senator who has had a run-in with the law or experienced a personal failing should be expelled from office. We are all human, and we would all fail a standard of perfection. But we are not addressing a pattern of behavior that is either typical or excusable.
Any senator who has three drunk driving convictions, has served over a month in jail while a member of the Senate, has exhibited a pattern of abusive and violent behavior, and abuses staff and others should be expelled from the Senate -- any senator.
Others said we should let the voters of Senator Jaye's district decide.
The voters do have the ultimate power to decide, because they can overturn a decision to expel a senator by returning that person to office. But that doesn't alleviate us of our constitutional responsibility to pass judgment on what standard of behavior we believe is acceptable.
Are we breaking new ground in this case?
In some sense, yes, but only because we clearly said that a senator cannot use the absence of a felony conviction to engage in a pattern of behavior that compromises the integrity of this public institution. But that is a myth that needs to be shattered.
The fact of the matter is that the pattern of behavior exhibited by Senator Jaye would have resulted in serious repercussions and/or dismissal from the vast majority of private and public positions in today's society. The standards we impose upon ourselves must be higher than what we expect of our constituents.
I took no pleasure in casting this vote. But the responsibility imposed upon me by the people of Michigan and my desire to uphold the integrity of this public institution, which will long outlast my service here, compelled me to vote to expel Senator Jaye.
Judging Jaye
Grand Rapids Press
June 3, 2001
So, what happens to the next maverick politician who steps out of line, has a run-in with the law, maybe has some trouble at home?
Most likely, there will never be another David Jaye, who two weeks ago was Michigan's first state senator to be expelled in its 166-year history.
But the Senate's judgment on the self-described "junkyard dog" drew criticism from political observers and advocates for the justice system who said senators ran roughshod over fairness and singled out a lawmaker who was as much disliked as he was in trouble with the law.
"Due process in this case was in the wrong hands," said Grand Rapids defense attorney Paul Mitchell.
"It was a mob mentality. I'm not making any apologies for David Jaye, but everyone is entitled to due process and it didn't look like he got it."
Mitchell knows about defending the notorious. He is currently building a defense for Marvin Gabrion, a death-penalty candidate charged in the death of a young woman and suspected in the disappearances of four other people, including the woman's small child.
Jaye was expelled, on a 33-2 vote, even though the most recent of the allegations he faced -- including physically abusing his fiance Sonia Kloss -- were dropped by Florida and Michigan police. Previously, Jaye had been convicted three times for drunken driving, spending time in jail as recently as last summer.
Most other governing boards on the local level don't have the power to expel, a power some local politicians -- who criticized the Senate's action -- would rather do without.
But Jaye's fellow senators, after six weeks of investigations and hearings, believed that the accumulation of his misdeeds were enough to bring the curtain down on his tumultuous career.
But even before the recent spate of incidents, Jaye had gained a reputation as a fire-breathing arch-conservative, dropped a gun on the floor of the Republicans' caucus room, and got into shouting matches with colleagues, including former House Minority Leader Kenneth Sikkema, R-Grandville, now in the Senate, and former speaker Paul Hillegonds of Holland on the House floor.
Jaye accused senators of punishing him for his abrasive personality and extreme political views.
Sikkema said he resents the inference that lawmakers' clashes with Jaye over the years influenced his vote to expel. And he said the Senate bent over backwards to ensure Jaye got a fair shake.
"If anything, the Senate process allows us to get at the truth of the matter in a way that the court system doesn't," he said. "In the courts, you can manipulate the system, with high-priced lawyers, by delaying hearings, plea bargaining.
"We looked at a pattern of behavior that required police intervention that in any private or most public jobs would be totally unacceptable," Sikkema said. "It wasn't any one single incident."
A clash of personalities
Critics, however, worried the vote was based on vague standards that allowed personal animus against Jaye to be a consideration.
"When does a series of allegations -- short of felony -- become a critical mass that permits persons to say you've done one wrongful deed too many?" said Craig Ruff, vice president for Lansing think tank Public Sector Consultants. "I think this is a slippery slope."
In the House, some lawmakers are calling for the creation of an ethics committee that would set standards for future expulsion proceedings.
"One of the problems is that there isn't an established process -- in this case, the Senate was charting new territory," said state Rep. Jerry Kooiman, R-Grand Rapids, who said he supports creating the new ethics committee.
Jaye's expulsion may make it easier to move against other errant lawmakers, Ruff said. In fact, the House may be moving toward its own proceedings, with Rep. Keith Stallworth, D-Detroit, facing felony charges for obtaining a false driver's license with his brother's identification. He has pleaded innocent, but pressure is mounting on House Minority Leader Kwame Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, to take action against Stallworth to prove his mettle as a potential Detroit mayoral candidate.
"If somebody makes the papers for alleged wrongdoings, there will be the clamor for equal justice," Ruff said. "It's dangerous."
Sen. Leon Stille, R-Spring Lake, who introduced the resolution to expel Jaye, said other lawmakers are not in jeopardy because of Jaye.
"You have to be a real maverick to have anything like this happen to you," he said. "There's enough language in our own Senate rules that says if you've got a bad track record, you can be removed."
Jaye's expulsion was a chilling message for local governing boards, even though most don't permit expulsions.
Marvin Hiddema, who has his own independent ways as a member of the Kent County Board of Commissioners, said he shudders at the thought that local governing boards could deal with wayward members the same way the Senate did.
"As bad as the crime is, unless you tell ahead of time what the rules are, it's unfair," he said. "I don't like what Jaye did, but I feel sorry for what he went through, seeing there's no standard he could judge himself by."
A Kent County bad boy
Indeed, the Kent County Commission faced a similar situation in the mid-1970s, when Democratic commissioner Stephen Kishkorn found himself in the middle of a controversy that included a four-month stint in a Colombian jail and charges that he broke into an ex-girlfriend's apartment.
Questions also dogged Kishkorn over marijuana use and using an allegedly stolen car. He later admitted to marijuana use, but the latter charge turned out to be false.
So, Kishkorn, now in the real estate business in Grand Rapids, said Jaye's travails were something he could identify with.
"I can have a lot of empathy for the man, you know?" said Kishkorn.
Fritz Wahlfield, who has served on the Kent County Commission since 1974, said some commissioners wanted to get rid of Kishkorn, but nothing in the bylaws allowed them to do so.
"But the voters took care of it," he said.
Kishkorn lost his re-election campaign in 1976, and he said he still remembers the charged atmosphere that led to his loss.
"You always have to remember that you're dealing in a political arena," Kishkorn said. "That always seems to prevail and cloud the facts."
The Kent County Commission's silence on rules dealing with wayward members is just fine with Commissioner Michael Sak.
"I don't know if that's truly our responsibility, to sit in judgment of a peer that has made mistakes, so I'm comfortable not having anything in our bylaws," Sak said. "Voters have every two years to elect someone, so they can make that judgment."
Most other governing bodies in the state have similar hands-off policies.
School boards, according to state law, can only censure members and strip them of committee assignments and titles.
Townships are similarly constrained, under a 1954 state law, though the governor can directly remove township board trustees for such crimes as "habitual drunkenness." That's never happened, according to Larry Merrill, executive director of the Michigan Association of Townships.
Under the Grand Rapids City Commission's charter, written in 1916, public officials can be removed by the commission for "official misconduct" or "unfaithful or improper performance of duties of his office."
It takes a simple majority to vote a peer off the commission.
Grand Rapids Mayor John Logie said it would take a lot for members to vote a peer out.
"If four or more peers got together and looked at an accumulation of acts and decided that taken as a whole there was enough deviation from acceptable conduct, that's what the charter permits," Logie said. "I'd hope that's reasonable."
Peer pressure
What's reasonable is in the eye of the peers, said Erika King, political science professor at Grand Valley State University.
"It's like the Supreme Court justice who said 'I can't define pornography but I know it when I see it,'" King said, referring to former justice Potter Stewart. "Public officials may not be able to completely define the threshold, but they know it when they see it when a peer has stepped over it."
Sen. Glenn Steil, R-Grand Rapids, initially opposed Jaye's expulsion, saying he would rather see a censure and "let his constituents deal with him."
But in the end, he voted in favor of expelling Jaye, partly in response to the hour-long defense Jaye gave on his final day on the Senate floor.
"He harangued and beat up on the other senators and was not very remorseful," Steil said. "It was a bad performance. I knew at that moment he no longer belonged in the Senate."
But as lawmakers may have used one final performance to determine their vote, they also viewed Jaye as a unique case against whom no other could be compared.
"I'm not aware of anybody who has compiled the kind of track record that David Jaye has," Stille said.
Jim Rinck, a Grand Rapids school board member who was censured by the board last year after criticizing Superintendent Patricia Newby, was sure that no other lawmaker would have faced a similar fate under the circumstances.
"It's clear if he'd had any kind of camaraderie in the Senate, this wouldn't have happened," said Rinck, an attorney. "They were so fed up with him. He'd blown all his empathy in the Senate, he'd lost it completely, even when the evidence wasn't all that overwhelming."