LIAR LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE

Oakland County Republican and former 11th Congressional District candidate Rocky Raczkowski is on the hot seat in Oakland County Circuit Court in a defamation suit filed by political opponent and former Congressman Kerry Bentivolio. “Rocky Raczkowski is a liar, and we are going to prove that he is a liar,” said Bentivolio, who is seeking $10 million in damages. “We made a case that he has a history of lying and telling mistruths, and we have enough evidence to proceed with a jury trial.” Bentivolio claims Raczkowski damaged his reputation when Rocky accused him of lying about his military career and awards. Bentivolio is an army veteran with a Vietnam Service Medal and two Bronze Service Stars; a Combat Infantryman Badge; an Army Commendation Award; a Meritorious Service Medal; an Iraq Campaign Medal; a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and other awards. Raczkowski is a retired U.S. Army Lt. Colonel who served two tours of duty overseas during the Global War on Terrorism, has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal, and claims Bentivolio lied about his record – claiming to have been awarded an additional Silver Star and three Purple Hearts. In late July, the circuit court denied Raczkowski’s motion for summary judgement, allowing the case to proceed. “It’s a frivolous suit. We are going to move to dismiss it once we have a transcript of the tape where he talks about his alleged medals,” Raczkowski said. Both Bentivolio and Raczkowski lost their primary election bids for the 11th District seat to fellow Republican Lena Epstein, who has no previous political or military service experience, but was once photographed waving an American flag in the back of a pick-up for a campaign photo.