David Jaye

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

David Jaye is a former Michigan politician known for being the only State Senator in Michigan history to be expelled from office.

Jaye served as State Representative for Michigan's 32nd District until 1998, when he vacated the seat to run for the 12th District State Senate seat (representing Macomb County). A political rival, Alan Sanborn (who had been narrowly defeated by Jaye before), took the seat he left in a special election. Jaye won the Senate seat and served there until his expulsion in 2001, due to frequent scuffles with the law (including more than one DUI arrest) and domestic troubles. He was seen as something of a black mark on the Senate and was subsequently removed from office. After being expelled, Jaye ran for his seat again in a 2001 special election, but was defeated by Sanborn.

Jaye divorced his wife, Sharon, and served as an English teacher in South Korea before returning to the U.S. He now resides in Florida.

Jaye's political campaigns were sometimes accused of mudslinging tactics. On more than one occasion he distributed literature with accusations of his opponents being under the control of "fatcat judges" (a direct reference to the fact that Sanborn's father was a judge), and on his website there were derogatory editorial cartoons of his opponents during elections.