Democrats set sights on Oakland County prosecutor job

Democrats set sights on Oakland County prosecutor jobBY L.L. BRASIER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • June 19, 2008

It's an office that often has garnered the region's attention.

And those who have held the seat have sometimes made national headlines: Richard Thompson prosecuting Jack Kevorkian, current prosecutor David Gorcyca bringing charges against Nathaniel Abraham.

Now, with Gorcyca deciding not to run for re-election, the Oakland County prosecutor seat is open for the first time since 1968. And Democrats are hoping to regain the office after 35 years of GOP control, opening their wallets and pinning their hopes on Jessica Cooper, a former judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals and a ferocious campaigner. She's an early favorite and has handily won six of seven elections since she first became a district court judge in 1979.

The Republicans admit that this is the year to be worried, particularly with an open seat where no Republican holds the advantage of an incumbency. In prior years, Oakland County has been such a Republican stronghold that Democrats usually produced only sacrificial candidates who lost by double-digit margins.

"We're worried not over the strength of the Democratic candidate as much as the phenomenal impact that Barack Obama appears to have," said L. Brooks Patterson, county executive and the godfather of Oakland County Republicanism. "When he gets 75,000 to come out for him in Portland, that's the stuff that scares us politically."

The Democrats "have more fire in the belly, and it's going to reverberate down through the ticket," Patterson said. "Local candidates can benefit from that level of enthusiasm. Yes, so we've got some tough races ahead."

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David Gorcyca, Oakland's cowardly prosecutor

This is a very interesting piece I found in today's Detroit Free Press. David Gorcyca is under investigation for his possible prosecutorial malfeasance involved in the James Perry case. No wonder he isn't running for re-election.

Oakland's cowardly prosecutor

BY BRIAN DICKERSON • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • April 4, 2008

Greeting you on your return from an out-of-town business trip, your next-door neighbor complains that your teenage son nearly struck her dog early the previous afternoon in your new pickup, which you have expressly forbidden the boy to drive.

Your son vehemently denies borrowing the truck, but you ground him anyway and order him to spend the weekend resealing your deck without fee.

A few hours later, your son's basketball coach and his assistant stop by to protest that your son spent the previous afternoon and evening at an away basketball game, precluding any possibility that he could have been using your truck at the same time.

Should you A) apologize to your son and rescind his punishment? B) explain that you're now uncertain about his guilt and offer to pay him for resealing your deck? Or C) lock them in a closet until your son has finished the free resealing job?

Protecting jurors from the truth

If you chose C), you just might have what it takes to work for Oakland County Prosecutor Dave Gorcyca, who apparently will stop at nothing to avoid admitting that his office may have put an innocent man behind bars.

When we last encountered Gorcyca, he was desperately trying to block a new trial for former kindergarten teacher James Perry, whom the Oakland prosecutor accused of sexually assaulting two young boys in an empty Oak Park elementary school classroom.

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Jessica Cooper announces run for County Prosecutor

Jessica Cooper, former circuit court judge, to run for Oakland prosecutor
by Greg Kowalski
staff writer

Former Oakland County Circuit Judge Jessica Cooper will run for Oakland County prosecutor on the Democratic ticket.

Speaking at the Race Relations & Diversity Task Force meeting this morning at The Community House in Birmingham Dave Woodward, chairman of the Oakland County Democratic Party, said Cooper “has the credentials... and name recognition” to capture the seat, which is being vacated by David Gorcyca, who is not seeking re-election.

Woodward also said she has the fund-raising ability to run a successful campaign.

Cooper, a Bingham Farms resident, achieved national attention in 1999 when she presided over the trial of Jack Kevorkian, ultimately sentencing him to 10 to 25 years in prison for one of his assisted suicides. In 2001 she was elected to the state Court of Appeals, from which she resigned earlier this year.

She received a law degree from Wayne State University.

Gorcyca was elected prosecutor in 1996.

Cooper could not be reached for comment Thursday morning.

Woodward was speaking at the Task Force meeting with Dennis Cowan, chairman of the Oakland County Republican Party, on the topic of how important voting is no matter which party you favor.