Michigan AG staffer celebrates gay activist’s departure on right-wing Web site

Andrew Shirvell (Source: Facebook)

Politics is not just for the federal DOJ

“Top Cop” Mike Cox’s Attorney General’s Office has at least one legal staffer who likes to play divisive politics, spewing venom on RightMichigan.com. So while the mainstream news has continued to cover the U.S. attorney firings from former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez’ Department of Justice, it turns out there is more politicization going on right here in Michigan.

The case in point, a piece penned by Andrew Shirvell, is certain to spin a few heads, particularly when one realizes that Shirvell is a staffer in the appellate division of the state attorney general’s office. Shirvell was hired by Cox’s office out of the illustrious right-wing Catholic Ave Maria Law School in Ann Arbor, founded by Domino’s founder Tom Monaghan to educate a new generation of conservative anti-abortion lawyers. Shirvell was also an antigay activist while an undergrad at the University of Michigan.

Shirvell, responding — a bit late, to the news that Sean Kosofsky, former policy director for gay-rights nonprofit Triangle Foundation is moving from Michigan to North Carolina — had these kind words about Kosofsky’s Michigan departure:

“Over the past decade, Kosofsky has been a zealous promoter of bizarre lifestyle choices here in Michigan, most notably by leading the “Triangle Foundation” — a Michigan clearinghouse that argues that homosexuals are entitled to special rights. Kosofsky has frequently clashed with (and viciously attacked) pro-life/pro-family champion Gary Glenn, the president of the American Family Association of Michigan http://www.afamichigan.org/. So I am glad that Kosofsky — the state’s most visible proponent of the radical homosexual agenda — is packing-up and leaving Michigan. But our state’s gain is truly North Carolina’s loss: Although Kosofsky will no longer earn his living by indoctrinating children with his perversity, he’ll be instead advocating for their deaths on-demand via legalized abortion.”

Isn’t that sweet? Here we are trying everything we can in our power to keep people in Michigan and because Shirvell disagrees with Kosofsky on political issues, Shirvell is glad to see him leave the state, selling his house and ending the income tax he paid to the state to support Shirvell’s own salary.

Shirvell was just elected this past Tuesday, Aug. 5, to be a precinct delegate for the Republican Party out of Eaton County. Before that, he was Cox’s assistant campaign manager.

One should be reminded that “Top Cop” Cox, also a conservative Catholic, has certainly been active politically in pushing the ideology of the right wing while in office. He filed a brief in support of a motion to stay California’s marriage decision until voters have a say in the fall, and he actively worked to take benefits away from public employees who were receiving partner benefits for their same-sex partners.

I have always been one to believe that the Constitution should be about limiting the rights of citizens in favor of interpretations by one specific religious grouping’s values and beliefs.

And seriously, why go after, I dunno, crime when you can dance around with Gary Glenn and pronounce how pro-family you are for denying hundreds of citizens their hard-earned benefits?

Thanks to Shirvell and Cox for reminding me that the Michigan Office of the Attorney General is blind… to whatever the pious Tom Monaghan and his far-right sect of the Catholic Church chooses not to see.

The Michigan Attorney General’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Todd A. Heywood is the Capitol correspondent for Between the Lines newspaper, as well as a Fellow with Michigan Messenger.