Justin Zatkoff, was fired by the Michigan Republican Committee following John McCain's exit from campaign activities in the state of Michigan. After refusing to leave campaign efforts in Michigan to be redeployed by Victory 2008 in other midwestern states in which McCain has a stronger presence, Zatkoff then attempted to take 300,000 pieces of campaign literature from Michigan campaign headquarters. In an email sent to supporters, Zatkoff alleged that he intended to distribute the literature himself:
"I know that I told you I would get your county's allotment of the 300,000 pieces of the John McCain literature over to your HQ last night and this morning, but a funny thing happened. Sad actually. As you know, that literature has been sitting in Farmington since last week and hasn't gone out to anyone! This literature does us no good sitting in the office collecting dust when it could be out in the hands of our grassroots activists! In accordance with our arrangements with the County and McCain grassroots leaders, like you, we were going to get it out all over the state as mentioned and had a plan to get it everywhere in the state in 48 hours - most places by this morning (or last night!), and even had direction from Jennifer Hallowell, the Regional Campaign Manager of the McCain Campaign, to do so."
In the email, Zatkoff alleged that he was acting on behalf of Scott Greenlee, then Deputy Victory Director of the Michigan McCain Campaign.
Larry Ward, Political Director of the Michigan GOP, took the lead in denouncing Zatkoff's actions in an email sent Tuesday afternoon: " Today, you may have received an email from a disgruntled former employee, Justin Zatkoff that is an example of game-playing that is distracting from our efforts this fall.
It has been leaked to the press and being circulated by the same old group of troublemakers that are more interested in intra-party political silliness than helping Republicans win general elections...We will prosecute anyone who attempts to take valuable collateral or equipment that belongs to the Republican party or the victory program and inhibits our effort to achieve victory in November."
According to an anonymous source within Victory '08, the campaign materials have been returned.
Editor's Note:
The original article was titled "Zatkoff Loses Position, Steals Literature." A more appropriate title could be "Michigan GOP Infighting Turns Ugly Over Campaign Literature."
The original article indicated that Justin Zatkoff attempted to steal campaign materials. However, the Michigan Republican Party has filed no charges. MRP Spokesman Bill Nowling has been quoted in Michigan Information & Research Service, "Some people didn't understand that they were no longer employees and had no authority to move those boxes. Once that was clarified the boxes were put back."
The original article reported that Zatkoff was fired by the Republican National Committee's 'Victory 08' program after McCain pulled his campaign out of Michigan. In actuality, Zatkoff's position was with the Michigan Republican Party.
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