"is a bogeyman" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to refer to a mythical creature who is used to frighten misbehaving children. For example, "My mother used to threaten me with the bogeyman if I was not good."
Not every fear is a bogeyman.
But like the sanctity of the state-aid regulations, this is a bogeyman deployed to shut down conversation.
What the locals know of him is sketchy, so they color it in with wild imaginings: he is a bogeyman, almost a beast, and not to be approached.
Yet there is a bogeyman — a djinn, beloved of Persian legend, cited by conservative neighbors, borne on the wind, and scoffed at by Shideh right up to the moment that she meets one.
And covering the candidate Joe Lieberman's dogged refusal to pander to protectionists in Berlin, N.H., the reporter Kareem Fahim wrote in The Village Voice: "Lieberman didn't bite -- even in this town where international trade is a bogeyman".
Four years of financial and economic crisis have shattered public confidence in the European Union, and Mr. Lamy, a moderate socialist, is a bogeyman to many on the left in France, where he is associated with "ultra-liberal" free-trade policies.
"They are a bogeyman," said one high-ranking party official.
"But I don't think he was a bogeyman," he continued.
"There's always been a bogeyman driving significant parts of their business strategy".
Fidel was a bogeyman bent on leading millions into the red bloc; JF Kennedy was a playboy capitalist and corrupt.
Blair has got to the stage now where he doesn't seem to mind being a bogeyman to the Guardianistas.
