Cox dogged by Manoogian Mansion questions

While Attorney General Mike Cox continues to contend he will not drop out of the race for the GOP nomination for governor over allegations he impeded an investigation into an alleged party at Detroit’s Manoogian Mansion, he is trying hard to keep his campaign focused on the future rather than the past.

The Cox campaign had to cancel a fundraiser for Cox in conservative West Michigan, a key for the east side Cox to win if he wants to the nomination. Chuck Yob, a former Republican National Committee member, tells the Grand Rapids Press the cancellation is the result of the growing list of questions and concerns over Manoogian Mansion:

But Chuck Yob said he thinks the planned Nov. 17 event was nixed because of increasing allegations that Cox stalled an investigation into alleged wrongdoing at Detroit’s Manoogian Mansion during former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s tenure.

Organizers of the fundraiser, including former State Sen. Glenn Steil Sr., say Yob’s claims are nonsense. They cancelled, they say, because Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindhal, a rising star in the national GOP, is going to be in west Michigan on Nov. 17 during the day followed by a fundraiser in southeast Michigan that evening.

Yob has endorsed Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder in the GOP primary — which is a six way race between Snyder, Congressman Pete Hoekstra, Mike Cox, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, Huron County Commissioner Tim Rujan, and State Sen. Tom George. That endorsement lead the Cox campaign to issue the following statement about Yob’s Manoogian Mansion claim:

“This is Chuck Yob attempting to be relevant,” campaign spokesman Stu Sandler said. “Gov. Jindal is in town for one day; the attorney general can come to West Michigan any time.”

All of this comes about at the same time the noise level on Manoogian and Cox is increasing. The AG has agreed to sit for a deposition on Dec. 11 in the civil lawsuit brought by the family of entertainer Tamara Greene. Greene was allegedly an entertainer at the as yet unproven party at Manoogian, and was allegedly assaulted by former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s wife Carlita. Greene was murdered shortly after and the case remains unsolved.

Cox is sitting for the deposition because detectives from the Michigan State Police have said in sworn depositions that Cox interfered with their investigation of both the Manoogian party and the Greene murder. Cox denies this, and Tuesday went to great lengths to answer a series of questions posited by the Detroit Free Press and appeared on the Frank Beckmann show on WJR.

MLive.com has an excellent write up on the WJR interview, but one thing that stands out to me is this tidbit:

• Was the state police attempt to subpoena hospital records investigators hoped would identify the alleged Manoogian assault victim a fishing expedition involving the records of “thousands of African-American women at Detroit Receiving,” as Cox has previously asserted, or a narrowly focused inquiry into one three-hour period, as Krebs testified? And if Krebs’ version is correct, why did the AG’s office refuse to authorize the subpoena?

Cox essentially confirmed the “fishing expedition” characterization.

They were “asking for a broad based search warrant,” Cox said, explaining state police asked for the emergency room or admittance records of all black females at Detroit Receiving Hospital in October of 2002.

“They get about 80,000 a year in their emergency room. …Literally, thousands of black females would have had their records gone through by cops,” he said, later referring to 4th Amendment privacy rights.

Cox said his office worked with state police to narrow down the subpoenas, but weren’t successful.