Mike Bishop to run for Oakland County prosecutor
Pontiac — Republican Mike Bishop, the former Senate majority leader, on Tuesday filed a bid for Oakland County prosecutor in the Nov. 6 election.Bishop, a former candidate for Michigan attorney general, registered a candidate committee Tuesday and is the first to file to run for the four-year term. Democrat Jessica Cooper is serving her first term as prosecutor.
"It's a passion of mine, that side of the law," said Bishop, 44, of Rochester, an attorney with Birmingham firm Clark Hill. "There are a lot of great things to be done in the Prosecutor's Office. I am looking forward to working with the assistant prosecutors there to put together a plan on how to utilize talents in the office."
Cooper could not be immediately reached Tuesday for comment. Officials with the Oakland County Clerk's Office said Tuesday she hadn't filed yet for re-election.
Oakland County Democratic Party Chairman Frank Houston sent a statement late Tuesday blasting Bishop for his apparent failure to file a timely appeal with the state Supreme Court to challenge the county's existing apportionment map. Bishop was the lead attorney in a legal challenge seeking to have the map tossed out on allegations its Apportionment Commission — three Democrats, including Cooper, and two Republicans — gerrymandered to create partisan districts.
The appeal was rejected Dec. 29 due to late filing.
"The Oakland County prosecutor is responsible for thousands of cases. How can we trust Mike Bishop as a potential prosecutor when his clients can't trust him to even meet basic deadlines on his most prominent case," Houston said.
Bishop called Houston's criticism "ridiculous."
"If that's the best they can do, bring it on. I've been through the fire with these kinds of things in the past."
Bishop said his clients decided not to pursue legal action and the appeal was submitted to the Supreme Court due to a "clerical error."
The challenge, he said, was abandoned after the passage of a House bill signed by Gov. Rick Snyder in December.
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