Bishop, former top dog in Senate, to run for prosecutor

An article by Kirk Pinho    No Comments

In a not entirely unexpected move, former state Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop has filed candidacy paperwork with the county Clerk/Register of Deeds’ Office to seek the Republican nomination for the Oakland County Prosecutor position currently held by Democrat Jessica Cooper.

And both have come out of the gate swinging.

Rumors had been circulating since at least last May — when Bishop took on the role of lead attorney in a legal challenge to new Board of Commissioners district lines approved by Democrats on the Oakland County Reapportionment Commission in a 3-2 party-line vote — that he would look to challenge the first-term prosecutor who was previously an Oakland County Circuit Court (14 years) and state Court of Appeals judge (6.5 years), in addition to serving eight years as a district court jurist.

Now, after officially filing for candidate committee status on Tuesday, Jan. 3, Bishop hopes to unseat Cooper, who was the chief architect of the new district maps that currently stand but may become null and void after the state Legislature late last year approved a bill that retroactively hands over redistricting authority to the county’s governing body, which is controlled by a 15-10 GOP majority.

Bishop, a 44-year-old from Rochester, currently works for Clark Hill PLC in the law firm’s government and public affairs practice group in Birmingham, concentrating on public policy, business law, and government relations.

He served in the state Legislature from 1998 until 2010, when Michigan’s term limits prevented him from seeking re-election. He spent four years as the state Senate Majority Leader and served as chairman of the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee and vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He was also chairman of the state Senate Government Operations Committee.

Bishop earned his law degree from Detroit College of Law in 1993.

“I’ve always appreciated and aspired to reconnect with this area of the law,” Bishop said. “It’s where I started. It’s a passion of mine, no question about it.”

He said he’s heard “not good” things from current and former assistant county prosecutors about how the office is run and he feels “duty-bound to step up” and challenge Cooper, who was elected to her current post in November 2008.

“I think that people are going to have a choice between having a politician (in the Prosecutor’s Office) and having a professional,” said Cooper, whose office has roughly 95 attorneys and 80 support staff. “I think the difference in credentials is quite obvious.”

Bishop took issue with those comments made to the Spinal Column Newsweekly and other publications.

“She’s elected to go very nasty very early,” Bishop said. “It’s an interesting critique from somebody who should know better. You don’t make comments like that unless you have clear evidence to support it.”

He said he practiced criminal law “right out of the gate” from law school, even trying cases in Cooper’s courtroom, and that he served as a local prosecutor.

“Her argument that I don’t have experience in this area is ridiculous. I don’t know where she gets off making that kind of accusation,” he said.

Cooper, who last month told the Spinal Column Newsweekly she would seek a second term in office, added that her office is also working with 13 fewer attorneys than it has in years past. Cooper also said Bishop’s statements in other published reports have indicated that he would like to run for higher office — perhaps the highest in the state.

“I’m not running for governor,” Cooper said. “He, by statement in articles, is. I’m not a politician, and there isn’t on-the-job training. It’s not something you can pick up by reading a book.”

The county prosecutor serves four-year terms and is paid $156,129 annually, although Cooper — and her staff — voluntarily gives back 4 percent ($6,245) of that sum each year, she said.

The candidate filing deadline is May 15.