LANSING — Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, a candidate for governor, on Wednesday announced he was backing legislation to create an independent auditor to seek out and eliminate fraud in the state’s Medicaid and Medicare rolls.

Cox said the state could save millions, according to the Detroit Free Press. Cox pointed to a similar program in New York state which he said reaped $551 million in fraud recoveries.

Michigan currently spends about $10 billion annually on the two programs which provide health care for the state’s disabled and poor.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, issued a statement saying the plan raised “serious legal questions.”

Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer wasted no time in assailing the GOP hopeful on the announcement.

Brewer had this to say in a press release:

“This is a blatant admission of failure on behalf of Mike Cox. The Attorney General’s office has had a Medicaid fraud unit for years, which obviously is not doing its job.”

Brewer claimed in the statement that Cox had only been able to recover $20 million from an estimated $1 billion in fraud.