“A lawyer is a representative of clients, an officer of the legal system and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice.” Preamble to the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct. A control freak is a person “who, if not in control of many aspects in other’s lives will go ballistic.” Urban Dictionary. “Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never can willingly abandon it. They may be distressed in the midst of all their power; but they will never look to any thing but power for their relief.” Edmund Burke.
An editorial appearing in The Oakland Press on January 16, 2009, observed that Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney Jessica Cooper had “failed to live up to one of her most important election promises—to conduct business in the prosecutor’s office in an open manner and keep the public informed.” The editorial questioned Cooper’s decision to allow only one person—Deputy Chief Paul Walton—to serve as the media spokesperson for the office. Assistant prosecutors reportedly had been banned from discussing any office business to anyone outside the office. “Under her predecessor, David Gorcyca, all assistant prosecutors were generally free to talk to reporters.”
On October 25, 2012, Prosecutor Cooper was interviewed by Fox News reporter Alexis Wiley in response to my Dad’s request that the media press Cooper about her statements that she had met with him many times to discuss this case. Here is an unofficial transcript of that interview:
Cooper: “We’re hearing all of these conspiracies. We’re hearing ah, the, the wild stories that are going on and you are saying to them I am the legal arm of the Task Force.”
Ms. Wiley Background Commentary during her story: “Prosecutor Cooper says over the past four years her office has worked hard on this case while balancing nearly 70,000 others. She says her staff has always been available to Mr. King.”
Cooper: “How many times have we talked to him(King)? You want, you want a visual? (Cooper is seen panning through pages)
Wiley: “How many times does that add up to??
Jessica Cooper: “27.”
Cooper waved her McCarthy-esque “visual” as proof that she had met with my Dad 27 times. My Dad got a copy of this visual aid under the Freedom of Information Act. Nineteen of these “meetings” refer to court hearings or filings in cases where Cooper opposed all of my Dad’s document requests. She does not refer to the time she pulled my Dad into court and falsely accused him of a felony during this charade. I guess that court appearance wasn’t so much a meeting as an attempted beat-down. More on that later.
This calculated press opportunity aired just before the November election, when Oakland County voters, in all their wisdom, reelected Cooper.
I will post my Dad’s response to Cooper’s prop/visual next.