Scorned ex-wife's flier makes wild accusations against candidate

There is such a thing as airing dirty laundry and then there's a smear campaign.

Thousands of fliers are distributed in Detroit blasting the character of a candidate for county commissioner.

They are written by a scorned woman claiming Monique Baker McCormick is a home wrecker.  McCormick has run for county commissioner many times so she is used to political mudslinging - but this time she says it’s not politics, its personal.

For two weeks Monique Baker McCormick has been collecting these pink letters for a very specific reason.

"I'm filing a defamation of character lawsuit," she said. "My attorney is in the middle of writing it as we speak."

The title reads "An important message from your former neighbor." And the author is someone very familiar to McCormick.

"It is my fiancé’s ex-wife, I had a (personal protection order) against her," McCormick said.

Open the letter and it’s a tabloid like tell-all of personal information. Allegations that McCormick stole this woman's husband and went after her insurance and pension plan.

"None of this is true," she said. "I had nothing to do with their break-up, I didn't even know him when they first broke up. They were living separate and they were going through a divorce at the time."

This letter ended up in the mailbox of voters in the Sixth District of Detroit where she is running a primary campaign for county commissioner.  It is a district that sees its share of political mail.

"It was interesting," said voter Leah Sanders Parks. "I see the woman who wrote it's point of view but it's kind of tacky too."

"This looks like somebody who has been scorn and they are trying to turn this into a political mailer," said voter Robert Morris.

"My father still lives in our family home where I grew up and he got a letter," McCormick said. "He was upset because he knows this isn't true."

The letter bears the name and signature of one person.

"Why would a citizen mail 10,000 or more of these and by the way I know how much these mailings cost because I've had to mail the district," McCormick said. "This probably cost anywhere from $6,000 to $8,000 if not more."

McCormick is convinced the woman behind the letter had the help of her opponent Burton Leland.

"Hopefully it will come out in court that she was paid to mail this," McCormick said.

FOX 2 attempted to reach the author of the letter but was unsuccessful. We did speak with Burton Leland by phone who said his name is not on the letter and  he had nothing to do with it. Leland added that he has "beaten her five times in the past and if she wants to run for county commissioner, she needs to pick a different district."