Michigan Attorney General

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The Michigan Attorney General is an elected official in the U.S. state of Michigan. Per the Michigan constitution, it is a four year term of office, and as amended in 1993, there is a two term limit. Michigan's current Attorney General is Mike Cox, who won re-election in 2006.
Michigan Attorney General

Term of Service

Daniel LeRoy
1836–1837
Peter Morey
1837–1841
Zephaniah Platt
1841–1843
Elon Farnsworth
1843–1845
Henry N. Walker
1845–1847
Edward Mundy
1847–1848
George V. N. Lothrop
1848-1851
William Hale
1851–1854
Jacob M. Howard
1855–1860
Charles Upson
1861–1862
Albert Williams
1863–1866
William L. Stoughton
1867–1868
Dwight May
1869–1872
Byron D. Ball
1873–1874
Isaac Marston
1874
Andrew J. Smith
1875–1876
Otto Kirchner
1877–1880
Jacob J. Van Riper
1881-1884
Moses Taggart
1885-1888
Stephen V. R. Trowbridge
1889–1890
Benjamin W. Huston
1890
Adolphus A. Ellis
1891–1894
Fred A. Maynard
1895–1898
Horace M. Oren
1899-1902
Charles A. Blair
1903-1904
John E. Bird
1905-1910
Franz C. Kuhn
1910-1912
Roger I. Wykes
1912
Grant Fellows
1913-1916
Alexander J. Groesbeck
1917-1920
Merlin Wiley
1921-1923
Andrew B. Dougherty
1923-1926
Clare Retan
1926
William W. Potter
1927-1928
Wilber M. Brucker
1928-1930
Paul W. Voorhies
1931-1932
Patrick H. O’Brien
1933-1934
Harry S. Toy
1935
David H. Crowley
1935-1936
Raymond W. Starr
1937-1938
Thomas Read
1939-1940
Herbert J. Rushton
1941-1944
John R. Dethmers
1945-1946
Foss O. Eldred
1946
Eugene F. Black
1947-1948
Stephen J. Roth
1949-1950
Frank G. Millard
1951-1954
Thomas M. Kavanagh
1955-1957
Paul L. Adams
1958-1961
Frank J. Kelley
1961-1999
Jennifer M. Granholm
1999-2002
Mike Cox
2003–Present

Attorney General of Michigan

Cox was elected Attorney General in 2002 and sworn into office on January 1, 2003. Within days of taking office, Cox created the Child Support Division, a first-of-its-kind program to collect child support. By combining public awareness with targeted prosecutions, the division collected more than $35.3 million on behalf of more than 3,500 Michigan children in its first four years. In 2004, Cox received the Golden Hearts Award from the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support, the nation's largest child support organization, and reorganized the Child and Public Protection Unit, making Michigan one of the most aggressive states in the nation to tackle the growing problem of Internet predators. Since taking office, Cox's unit continues to arrest more Internet predators than any state other than

Texas.
From 2003-2006, Cox's Consumer Protection Division returned a record $43.4 million to the State of Michigan. During the same period, he prevented $1.78 billion in utility rate increases.
In 2003, Cox formed the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) to uncover public corruption and solve cold case homicides.

Cox has collected more money (more than $70 million) than was collected by the Health Care Fraud Division in their first 24 years of existence (less than $20 million). He drafted the Medicaid Whistleblower Protection Act, legislation against Medicaid fraud, which provides financial incentives to those who assist in the investigation or prosecution of a violator of the Medicaid False Claims Act. Cox spearheaded the drafting and passage of legislation requiring mandatory criminal background checks of employees in residential care facilities, including nursing homes, to safeguard Michigan seniors.

Cox has also fought to protect the Great Lakes from aquatic nuisance species and biological pollutants by challenging the United States Environmental Protection Agency to regulate ballast water discharges.

Cox has also aggressively prosecuted deadbeat parents, including a public relations campaign which called attention to the issue of unpaid child support through billboards and other forms of media

2006 election and later

Cox had raised over $1.9 million to contest the 2006 election and on November 7, 2006, was re-elected to a second term as Michigan's Attorney General defeating Democratic candidate Amos Williams. Cox is serving his last term as Attorney General, since Michigan statewide officeholders are limited to 2 terms in office.

Cox received nationwide negative press in 2007 when the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that adultery could, at least in theory, be prosecuted as first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a resulting life in prison sentence. This unanimous decision was reached as a result of an appeal sought by Cox's office on a drug case that touched in part on this strange loophole in the law.[3][4]

In November 2005, Cox himself admitted to committing adultery while accusing Oakland County lawyer Geoffrey Fieger of blackmail, claiming that he threatened to reveal the affair if Cox did not drop an investigation into Fieger's alleged campaign finance violations. Cox said his personal conduct was "inexcusable" and had reconciled with his wife.

Cox is a rumored candidate to run for Governor of Michigan in 2010 after the term of current governor Jennifer Granholm expires.