Mike Cox

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For other persons named Michael Cox, see Michael Cox (disambiguation).

Mike Cox (born 1961) is the 52^nd Michigan Attorney General, having served since January 1, 2003. He is the first Republican in 48 years to serve as Attorney General of Michigan. He won re-election in 2006, defeating Democratic candidate Amos Williams, an attorney from Detroit. Current Michigan Governor, Jennifer M. Granholm preceded him as the state's 51st Attorney General.

Cox is a graduate of Detroit Catholic Central High School and spent time in the United States Marine Corps before entering college. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1989 and went to work in the Wayne County Prosecutor's office. In 2000, Cox was appointed Director of the Homicide Unit, which prosecuted approximately two-thirds of all homicides in Michigan. [1] Cox's older brother, Sean Cox, is a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Mike and his wife Laura have four children.

[edit] 2006 Election

In late 2005, Attorney Geoffrey Fieger announced he would challenge Cox in the 2006 election. Soon thereafter, Cox held a press conference to announce he had an extramarital affair before being elected, and that Fieger planned to extort him during the campaign with information of the affair.

Fieger eventually dropped-out of the race when an investigation into Cox's extortion claims, as well as new claims that Fieger wanted Cox to stop investigating his role in a series of advertisements run against a Michigan Supreme Court justice, led to an FBI raid of Fieger's Southfield, Michigan office. After an investigation by the Oakland County, Michigan prosecutor, Fieger was never charged for lack of evidence.[2]

Cox had raised nearly $1.6 million to contest the 2006 election.[3] On November 7, 2006, he was re-elected to a second term to serve as Michigan's Attorney General defeating Amos Williams.

[edit] External links

Preceded by: Jennifer Granholm	Attorney General of Michigan 2003 – Present	Succeeded by: Incumbent

State Attorneys General in the United States This box: view • talk • edit</div>
AK: David W. Márquez AL: Troy King AR: Mike Beebe AZ: Terry Goddard CA: Bill Lockyer CO: John Suthers CT: Richard Blumenthal DE: Carl Danberg FL: Charlie Crist GA: Thurbert Baker	HI: Mark Bennett IA: Tom Miller ID: Lawrence Wasden IL: Lisa Madigan IN: Steve Carter KS: Phill Kline KY: Greg Stumbo LA: Charles Foti MA: Tom Reilly MD: J. Joseph Curran, Jr.	ME: G. Steven Rowe MI: Mike Cox MN: Mike Hatch MO: Jay Nixon MS: Jim Hood MT: Mike McGrath NC: Roy A. Cooper ND: Wayne Stenehjem NE: Jon Bruning NH: Kelly Ayotte	NJ: Stuart Rabner NM: Patricia A. Madrid NV: George Chanos NY: Eliot Spitzer OH: Jim Petro OK: Drew Edmondson OR: Hardy Myers PA: Tom Corbett RI: Patrick C. Lynch SC: Henry McMaster	SD: Larry Long TN: Paul Summers TX: Greg Abbott UT: Mark Shurtleff VA: Bob McDonnell VT: William Sorrell WA: Rob McKenna WI: Peg Lautenschlager WV: Darrell McGraw WY: Patrick Crank
Other members of the National Association of Attorneys General AS: Malaetasi Togafau • GU: Douglas Moylan • NMI: Matt Gregory • PR: Roberto J. Sanchez-Ramos • VI: Kerry Drue DC: Robert Spagnoletti • United States: Alberto Gonzales (honorary member)