GOP Attorney General and House Speaker are in a war of words

[Lefty48197]

Republican State Attorney General Mike Cox and GOP House Speaker Craig DeRoche found themselves in a war of words this week over what Cox refers to as a "power grab".

Cox also said that questions raised by the House speaker over whether the state attorney general has the power to issue binding legal opinions are "inane and stupid.", according to the Lansing State Journal article.



http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/michigan/chi-ap-mi-attygeneral-power,1,7174953.story?coll=chi-newsap_mi-hed


"The intraparty spat erupted Friday when Cox issued a three-page news release criticizing attempts to say attorney general opinions aren't binding.

"It's so inane and stupid that I don't know where to start in addressing it," Cox told The Associated Press when asked about DeRoche's position.

He also said DeRoche "spouted off" to the media "about things he has absolutely no knowledge of." Cox was referring to a story in Thursday's edition of the Michigan Information & Research Service newsletter, in which DeRoche was quoted as saying attorney general opinions don't carry the weight of law."

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060729/NEWS01/607290312/1001/portland

""I'm not going to take this nonsense lying down from anyone," he (Cox) said".

http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,1607,7-164--148170--,00.html

The following are from the Attorney General's website:

"Recently, the Speaker of the House has called into question the powers of the Office of Attorney General..."

"I will not allow the powers of this office to be stripped by someone making a power grab, regardless of which party they may be from."

"Speaker DeRoche has served less than two terms in Lansing. Perhaps that explains why the Speaker does not know that his assertions are refuted by more than a century of case law, statutory provisions, longstanding established tradition, and the facts."

The independence of the Office of Attorney General is not going to change, whether the criticism comes from Republicans or Democrats. Unfortunately, over the past ten years, there have been various efforts by Republicans to attempt to restrict the powers of the Office of Attorney General. Here we go again.

"...It is inconsistent at best, and hypocritical at worst, to ask for opinions from the Office of Attorney General, while at the same time claiming that the Attorney General has no power to issue the opinions being asked for. These efforts are pure nonsense, and pure politics."

Granted, Michael Cox deserves a lot of criticism for multiple extra marital affairs, while claiming to be a "pro-family" Republican, but Craig DeRoche is absolutely nuts. A perfect leader for the nuts that make up the Michigan Republicans today.