Mike Cox

Mike Cox

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Republican Party

Prior offices

Attorney General of Michigan

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Education

Law

University of Michigan Law School, 1989

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Mike Cox (Republican Party) was the Attorney General of Michigan. Cox assumed office in 2003. Cox left office in 2010.

On May 27, 2009, Cox declared candidacy for the gubernatorial election in 2010. Cox was defeated in the Republican primary on August 3, 2010.

Biography

Mike Cox was born on December 29, 1961. He attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He earned a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1989.

Political career

The following actions were overseen by Mike Cox in his official capacity as Attorney General of Michigan:

• Formation of the state Child Support Division
• Reorganization of the state Child and Public Protection Unit
• Formation of the state Office of Special Investigations
• Drafting of the Medicaid Whistleblower Protection Act

U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit

In 2009 in his official capacity as Attorney General of Michigan, Cox sued for a preliminary injunction against the State of Illinois, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago with the United States Supreme Court. The suit alleged that the entities were responsible for allowing the spread of Asian carp in the Great Lakes. In the lawsuit, Cox sought the closure of the O'Brien Lock and Dam and the Chicago Controlling Works, the operation of sluice gates at the Wilmette Pumping Station, the O'Brien Lock and Dam and the Chicago Controlling Works to stop carp from entering Lake Michigan, new barriers created to prevent carp from escaping the Des Plaines River into the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal during flood events and entering Lake Michigan through the Grand and Little Calumet Rivers, a comprehensive study of the Chicago waterway system, and action to permanently separate the waterways from the Great Lakes. Cox requested that the U.S. Supreme Court reopen a case from 1925 in which the federal government challenged Chicago's right to divert water from the Great Lakes via canal without consulting neighboring states, including Michigan, or grant a new case.

In 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States denied two requests for a preliminary injunction.

Awards

• Golden Hearts Award (2004) from the National Child Support Enforcement Association.

Elections

2010

See also: Michigan gubernatorial election, 2010

Cox announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the state of Michigan's gubernatorial race in 2010 on May 27, 2009. Cox was defeated in the Republican primary on August 3, 2010.

2010 Race for Governor - Republican Primary
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	a Rick Snyder	36.4%
	Republican Party	Pete Hoekstra	26.8%
	Republican Party	Mike Cox	23.0%
	Republican Party	Mike Bouchard	12.2%
	Republican Party	Tom George	1.6%
Total Votes			1,047,048

2006

Mike Cox ran unopposed in the Republican Party primary election.

General Election for Attorney General of Michigan, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	a Mike Cox	53.8%
	Democratic Party	Amos Williams	43.5%
	Libertarian Party	Bill Hall	1.7%
	U.S. Taxpayers	Charles Conces	1.0%
Total Votes			3,690,415

2002

Mike Cox ran unopposed in the Republican Party primary election.

General Election for Attorney General of Michigan, 2002
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	a Mike Cox	48.9%
	Democratic Party	Gary Peters	48.7%
	Green Party	Jerry Kaufman	1.6%
	U.S. Taxpayers	Gerald Van Sickle	0.9%
Total Votes			3,068,012

Campaign finance summary

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Noteworthy events

Affordable Care Act lawsuit (2010)

See also: State Attorneys General Against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010

Cox was one of 13 state attorneys general who initiated a 2010 lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The suit argued that the individual mandate fell outside of the federal government’s authority and that the requirement for state Medicaid expansion of coverage violated state sovereignty. The case was ultimately heard before the Supreme Court, which ruled to uphold the individual mandate as falling within Congress’ authority to levy taxes and struck down the Medicaid expansion as being unduly coercive in light of the withholding of funding that would result from noncompliance.

Arizona immigration law (SB 1070)

See also: Arizona SB 1070

Arizona SB 1070, officially named the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, was passed by the Arizona State Legislature in 2010 and signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer (R) on April 23, 2010. The law created new state immigration-related crimes and broadened the authority of state and local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws. The United States government challenged four provisions of the law in Arizona v. United States on the grounds that they were preempted by federal law. In 2012, the United States Supreme Court struck down three of the challenged provisions as preempted while upholding one as not preempted.

In his official capacity as Attorney General of Michigan, Cox filed an amicus brief in support of the Arizona law.

Extramarital affair

In a press conference in 2005, Mike Cox stated that he had engaged in an extramarital affair prior to assuming office as Attorney General of Michigan in 2003. Cox alleged that an associate of Oakland County lawyer Geoffrey Fieger had threatened to make the affair public unless Cox's office ended an alleged investigation into Fieger for campaign finance violations in the 2004 election cycle. Fieger denied the allegation of blackmail and called for Cox to resign.

In 2005, Fieger filed suit against Cox, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman, and then-Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, alleging deprivation of his right to free speech. In 2006, the case was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. On appeal in 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court's ruling, holding that Fieger had raised similar concerns in state courts and that the district court could order sanctions against Fieger.

Separately in 2007, the extramarital affair received national attention when, in a footnote of a court ruling, Michigan Third District Court of Appeals Judge William B. Murphy stated that adultery could be prosecuted as first-degree criminal sexual conduct and could include a penalty of life imprisonment, according to state law. The unanimous ruling was the result of an appeal sought by Cox's office on a drug case that touched in part on this loophole in the law.

See also

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External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Campaign website (2010 state executive election)
• Personal Facebook page
• Personal Twitter page
• Project Vote Smart - Mike Cox biography

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Jennifer M. Granholm (D)	Attorney General of Michigan 2003 - 2010	Succeeded by Bill Schuette (R)