Attorney General Bill Schuette is “Michigan’s public defender,” Matt Hall told Dowagiac Rotary Club Thursday noon at Elks Lodge 889, whether that is consumer protection or keeping the public safe from violent criminals.

“At the end of the day, the attorney general’s job is to protect and keep the citizens of Michigan safe,” Hall said. “In our view, that’s the No. 1 obligation of government — public safety. That’s why we join with Vic Fitz and many other prosecutors around the state to fight the early release of violent criminals. Budgets are tough right now in the state, so they release violent criminals trying to cut the budget. Our view is there are other things we can do, like privatizing some of the services in Corrections, but we do not support the early release of violent criminals.”
A second priority in Schuette’s office in the first six months, Hall said, has been public integrity.
“Since January, we have filed corruption charges against 55 Michigan officials for abusing their positions,” Hall said. “Most recently, in Troy, a relative of (former Detroit mayor) Kwame Kilpatrick was charging the taxpayers for all kinds of personal stuff,” including liposuction.
“We filed charges against her and are pursuing that in court,” he said. “Kwame is writing a book about his experiences. Our contention is that he not make one dime off that book until he repays his debt to the taxpayers, so we’ll be pursuing that as well.”
Hall was asked whether those public officials convicted lose their pension or health benefits as a result. Those things are not written into criminal statutes, so the frustrating answer was no.
On crime victims rights, Hall said, “It was interesting to me when I took on this role was that victims rights are not always clearly defined or consistent. For example, if someone who committed a violent crime and they’re up for parole, sometimes the victim’s family isn’t notified. We think that victim should have the right to appear at that parole and talk about the effect of that crime. Bill Schuette created a new officer in our department who is in charge of crime victim’s rights.”
Hall said the Attorney General’s Office employs 430 people. Former Cass County prosecutor Scott Teter, who joined the office under Mike Cox, continues with Schuette.
“Medicinal marijuana is a major issue for us,” Hall said. “We’ve been working on a case here with Vic Fitz. When voters passed this law, I think their intent was that dying cancer patients should have access to this. That’s reasonable, I think most people would say, whether you supported it or not, but we’re seeing that 98 percent of these are not going to those patients, but to students at Western Michigan University, Michigan State or just people who hurt their knee. We don’t believe that was the intent of the voters, so we’re working with the Legislature and put together a task force to clarify what the law is. Every single township and municipality is struggling with how to interpret this law.
“We intend to help clarify that over the next couple of months. Here in Cass County you had a case where it’s illegal under federal law, so law enforcement comes in to make a bust or to figure out what’s going on. The Michigan Department of Community Health doesn’t give them the information about whether these people have a card. They confiscate the plants, then later they find out if it’s legal. You’re not going to see very many sheriffs who are going to give these plants back. In this particular case, they were growing over the legal limit. Their argument was an exception for personal use. Prosecutor Fitz filed charges and was successful, so now we’re in appellate court and the attorney general filed a brief on behalf of Prosecutor Fitz, defending him because he made the right call. It just shows you how confusing this issue is.”
Hall said another issue the attorney general wants to work on is methamphetamine’s concentration in southwest Michigan “to make sure you’re getting the resources. We’re also seeing a lot of consumer complaints through our office for mortgage and foreclosure fraud. You get something in your mailbox if you’re in foreclosure to call a number for help. They get a credit card number and disappear. Our office is collecting information and investigating those. If you ever have an issue like that, you can contact our office or file a complaint online at our Web site, michigan.gov/ag.”
Hall, who is not an attorney, spoke as the guest of Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz, who noted that during his 28-year career, Michigan has had just four AGs — “Eternal General” Frank Kelley, future governor Jennifer Granholm, Cox and now Schuette.
“As candidates run,” Fitz said, “they make a lot of different promises. Bill Schuette feels he is keeping those promises. A couple of promises he made that were important to prosecutors was that he would insure good communication between us and law enforcement. Today we’re seeing one of those promises fulfilled. Bill Schuette has appointed someone (in Hall) as his representative for the western side of Michigan,” based in Grand Rapids.
“In most of my career as a prosecutor,” Fitz said, “we didn’t have this luxury of somebody like Matt we could go to directly with an issue.”
In fact, Hall stayed after the Rotary luncheon to meet with Fitz, Sheriff Joe Underwood and Undersheriff Rick Behnke about the ramifications of federal funding ending for meth lab clean-up.
Hall, who worked for a defense contractor in the Muskegon area and served as the Michigan youth chair for his political party, said, “You in Cass County are well-represented with Vic Fitz as your prosecutor and with Sheriff Underwood as well. They’re both two strong allies and friends of our office when it comes to law enforcement. I also appreciate the CIA showing up today,” referring to City Clerk Jim Snow’s ball cap du jour.
Coming from the private sector, Hall found state government “works at a different pace. It’s slow. Don’t tell (Gov.) Rick Snyder I said that. I’ve been there almost two months now and I’m still waiting on my business cards.”