Bill Schuette For Michigan Attorney General

THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

I’M BILL SCHUETTE, JUDGE BILL SCHUETTE, AND I ACCEPT YOUR NOMINATION TO BE MICHIGAN’S NEXT ATTORNEY GENERAL.

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL IS THE CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.  BUT IT IS NOT MY FIRST RESPONSIBILITY.  MY FIRST RESPONSIBILITY IS AS A HUSBAND AND A FATHER.  

SO I WANT TO INTRODUCE TO YOU MY FAMILY: MY BEAUTIFUL WIFE OF 19 YEARS, CYNTHIA, AND OUR TWO WONDERFUL CHILDREN, HEIDI AND BILL. 

I ALSO WANT TO THANK THOSE WHO NOMINATED ME; MY FRIEND VIC FITZ, THE CASS COUNTY PROSECUTOR, AND LOLA HUBBARD, WHO LOST HER HUSBAND SO TRAGICALLY. 

UNFORTUNATELY, THERE ARE LOTS OF LOLA HUBBARDS, LOTS OF VICTIMS OF CRIME TO WHOM  NOBODY LISTENS. 

THIS MUST CHANGE, AND WHEN I AM ELECTED YOUR NEXT ATTORNEY GENERAL, IT’S GOING TO CHANGE. 

VICTIMS NEED SOMEONE TO LISTEN TO THEM … SOMEONE TO FIGHT FOR THEM … 

THEY NEED SOMEONE WHO WILL STAND UP TO THIS GOVERNOR WHEN SHE TRIES TO RELEASE PRISONERS WHO MURDERED OR BRUTALIZED THEIR HUSBANDS AND WIVES, THEIR SONS AND THEIR DAUGHTERS. 

THOSE OF YOU WHO ENOY THE OUTDOORS ARE FAMILIAR WITH A POLICY CALLED ‘CATCH AND RELEASE.’ 

CATCH AND RELEASE IS A GREAT POLICY FOR LAKE PERCH … BUT IT IS A TERRIBLE POLICY FOR PRISONERS. 

THE GOVERNOR’S GOT THIS ALL WRONG – INSTEAD OF THE PRISONERS GETTING OUT EARLY, I THINK GOVERNOR GRANHOLM OUGHT TO BE THE ONE LEAVING EARLY, DON’T YOU. 

PUBLIC SAFETY IS NOT A PARTISAN ISSUE. 

BECAUSE CRIME DOES NOT DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS … OR RACES … OR GEOGRAPHY.

THAT’S WHY I AM RUNNING FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL-- TO PUT PUBLIC SAFETY FIRST. 

WHETHER YOU LIVE IN MONROE OR MARQUETTE, DETROIT OR GRAND RAPIDS, YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO BE SAFE IN YOUR HOME, AT WORK AND IN SCHOOL.

GOVERNMENT’S FIRST TASK IS TO PROVIDE PUBLIC SAFETY, AND IF GOVERNMENT CAN’T DO THAT, THEN IT’S NOT DOING ITS JOB.

WHEN COMMUNITY LEADERS IN FLINT ASKED FOR THE NATIONAL GUARD TO BE DEPLOYED, BECAUSE VIOLENT CRIME IS SO RAMPANT, THEN SOMETHING IS WRONG … SOMETHING IS TERRIBLY WRONG. 

FAMILIES AREN’T SAFE.

AND HRE IS THE SIMPLE FACT -- WE CAN’T HAVE THOSE WHO MANAGE THE PUBLIC SAFETY OF FLINT BE PROMOTED TO MANAGE THE PUBLIC SAFETY OF MICHIGAN  -- THE RISKS ARE TOO GREAT … THE CONSEQUENCES TO PUBLIC SAFETY TOO SEVERE. 

THE PEOPLE WHO FIGHT CRIME – THE POLICE AND THE PROSECUTORS – THEY NEED AN ALLY. 

AND THE PEOPLE WHO SUFFER FROM CRIME – THE VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES  -- THEY NEED AN ADVOCATE.

I PLEDGE TO ALL OF YOU THAT AS MICHIGAN’S NEXT ATTORNEY GENERAL, I WILL BE A PARTNER TO THE POLICE AND THE PROSECUTORS.

AND, JUST AS IMPORTANTLY, I WILL BE A VOICE FOR THE VICTIMS.

MY FRIENDS, THERE ARE BETTER DAYS AHEAD FOR MICHIGAN.  THERE ARE BETTER DAYS AHEAD. 

I WANT ALL OF YOU, THE HARD-WORKING FAMILIES OF OUR GREAT STATE, TO KNOW THAT THEY CAN COUNT ON ME TO PUT THE SAFETY AND SECURITY FIRST AS THE CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL FOR THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.

AND WITH YOUR HELP, YOUR SUPPORT AND YOUR VOTE, BILL SCHUETTE WILL BE ON DUTY AS YOUR NEXT ATTORNEY GENERAL. 

THANK YOU.