Shirvell taint extends to Cox

Last night, I posted something here about the Assistant Attorney General of Michigan and his anonymous online harassment of an openly gay student at the University of Michigan. The student, I’m told, has since taken out a restraining order against the man, whose name is Andrew Shirvell. To my knowledge, however, no action has yet been taken against Shrivell by Attorney General Mike Cox, whose job it is to enforce the laws of Michigan equally, without bias.

Coincidentally, this wasn’t the only such case of anonymous online gay harassment by a government employee recently. Last week, when the comment, “all faggots must die,” was left on a gay political site by the name of Joe My God, it was tracked back to a computer in the office of Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss. Apparently, it was the work of a staffer. But, here’s where the two stories diverge. According to Joe Jervis, the man behind the Joe My God site, Senator Chambliss called him today, offering a personal apology and promising to fire the individual responsible, which he’s said to have done soon after. To my knowledge, our Attorney General has not responded in a similar fashion. But, public pressure is building… Now, just a few hours since its launch, the Fire Andrew Shirvell Facebook page has almost 7,500 fans. And, Michigan’s Governor, Jennifer Granholm, had the following to say via Twitter – “If I was still Attorney General and Andrew Shirvell worked for me, he would have already been fired.” We’ll see if it has any affect of Cox.

All I can say is that I’m thankful that Mike Cox did not win the Republican primary for Governor a few weeks ago. The more I hear about Shirvell, and his history, the more it sounds as though Cox hired him not in spite of his radical anti-gay ideas, but because of them. Shirvell, it seems, had a history of anti-gay activism in the Ann Arbor area, having gone to the extent of leading a boycott against, of all places, the New York Pizza Depot. Their offense? They had a rainbow sticker on their front door. And, it would seem, his hateful preoccupation with gay sex would only intensify as a law student at Tom Monaghan’s Ave Maria anti-abortion college.

Tom Monaghan, if you’ll recall, also shared a strangely intense interest in what other men did with their wieners… I don’t want to go off on a conspiratorial tangent, but I do find it interesting that, of all the businesses with rainbow stickers that Shirvell could have gone after in Ann Arbor, he chose to focus on a pizza place with aspirations of franchising. (For those of you who don’t recognize the name, Monaghan is the man who founded Domino’s Pizza. He did so here in Ypsilanti, and it made him rich, allowing him to do things like start a thoroughly creepy, far-right Dominionist college here in my back yard.)

So, one wonders if maybe Monaghan had a role in all of this. As Cox is a conservative Catholic who attended U-M as both an undergrad and a Law student, one wonders if Monaghan, who still spent much of the year here at the time, was ever exposed to Cox. And, one wonders if maybe he helped fund Cox’s political career. Or, did he, perhaps, make it a practice of introducing fresh, young students to Cox? (Cox is a charismatic character. I can certainly see men like Monaghan and Shirvell drooling over Cox.) I wish we still had journalists who could look into this kind of thing.

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41 Comments

  1. commonsense
    Posted October 1, 2010 at 4:26 am | Permalink

    Send this on to Anderson Cooper 360

  2. Knox
    Posted October 1, 2010 at 5:56 am | Permalink

    Thank you for bringing up the continuum of taint that flows back and forth between these two men, and the role that Monaghan may have played as a facilitator between then, working their individual taints into an explosive frenzy.

  3. Robert
    Posted October 1, 2010 at 6:34 am | Permalink

    Our phony attorney general Mike Cox responded in the light of public attention to this situation and finally suspended that little creep Shirvell. The public attention IS THE ONLY REASON Cox did anything. Without it he would just have done what he has on a myriad of other issues about which there has been little public scrutiny.

    Mike Cox’s mindless partisanship is just his most obvious defect. More importantly he’s corrupt to the bone, and a complete moral degenerate on a personal level. That’s why he’s been such an easy mark for the mob to get a leash on him. Make no mistake about it, Mike Cox is a dumb thug who owes his entire career to the Detroit Organized Crime Syndicate. He started doing favors for them back in his days at the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office and they’ve been propping him up ever since.

    These may sound like outlandish accusations, but I promise they are not. I will be more than happy to repeat them to his face or to anyone interested in investigating his corrupt connections. The guys he does favors for scare me but he doesn’t. He’s a pathetic brainless lap dog.

  4. beermaestro
    Posted October 1, 2010 at 7:57 am | Permalink

    We all know the natural progression of the story here….he’ll soon be discovered by police in the parking lot somewhere late at night with someone he found on rentaboy.com

  5. Posted October 1, 2010 at 8:03 am | Permalink

    Good post!

  6. Jules
    Posted October 1, 2010 at 8:07 am | Permalink

    I haven’t even read the post yet, but I HAD to say, BEST TITLE EVER! Ok, now I’ll go back and read it.

  7. Oliva
    Posted October 1, 2010 at 9:40 am | Permalink

    Yea, I like the title too. And I agree you should send the post on to Anderson Cooper. (Would be great if Robert would spill what he knows to Cooper, but I get that the bad guys are out there and are not reasonable and kind!)

  8. Oliva
    Posted October 1, 2010 at 9:52 am | Permalink

    Or send the post to Andrew Sullivan?

    http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/10/shirvell-takes-a-personal-leave.html

    (He includes Cox’s loutish response to Granholm.)

  9. Alicia
    Posted October 1, 2010 at 9:53 am | Permalink

    curiouser and curiouser…and frightening, too.

  10. Edward
    Posted October 1, 2010 at 10:08 am | Permalink

    I’m sure there were one or more “fundraisers” at Cox HQ with a bunch of nude old men in leather masks.

  11. TeacherPatti
    Posted October 1, 2010 at 12:05 pm | Permalink

    I agree that this is rather scary. It also makes me wonder what the hell else Monaghan has his dirty stanky little fingers in.

  12. Face
    Posted October 1, 2010 at 1:48 pm | Permalink

    Granholm should have licked that taint when she had a chance.

  13. Robert
    Posted October 1, 2010 at 5:24 pm | Permalink

    It’s funny. This morning Cox’s office was saying they suspended Shirvell. Later they decided to change that story. They are now saying he took a voluntary leave of absence. What a joke these hacks are.

  14. Robert
    Posted October 2, 2010 at 11:46 am | Permalink

    Now Cox’s office is saying they’ll have a disciplinary hearing with Shirvell. See how these fuckers have no idea what they are doing here? They are claiming they are just following procedures now, but you can bet your ass none of this would have happened had there not been the media attention on it that there has been.

    This is our fucking top law enforcement official in the state! This is the level his office operates on with regard to everything.

    Let me spell it out real simple like for everyone out there who doesn’t know about the kind of crazy shit that goes on in government and law enforcement. All you fucking shut-in Internet ninnies who like to arm-chair politik should stop reading here.

    There are unofficial organizations which make a business out of capturing public offices for purposes of contracting “services” to preferred clients and/or others willing to direct large sums of money their way.

    Mike Cox has been doing ‘little favors’ for folks outside of (and often contrary to) his duties in the positions he’s taken as a supposed law enforcer. This started down in Detroit when he worked at the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office all through the 90s. He is a person of very weak moral character and made easy pickings for organized criminal interests in Detroit which soon had him utterly compromised. Once he was securely in their back pocket they began pushing to run him for higher office. Their big opportunity came in 2002 when Granholm decided to run for Governor leaving her AG post up for grabs.

    Interestingly Mike Cox was the only candidate to file in the Republican Primary. Now how do you suppose that happened? Do you think there were no other Republican lawyers in the entire state who were interested and/or better qualified than this dumb degenerate shmuck who had never held elective office before? It’s not like Michigan’s 83 counties are teaming with elected, ambitious, GOP county prosecutors or anything. How do you suppose it was that nobody else in the GOP took an interest in the job? I’ll leave that question for all those genius polical science professors out there to ponder. I’m sure you’ll come up with a perfectly sterile explanation.

    Next, Mike Cox defeats State Senator Gary Peters who is considerably advantaged due to his high name recognition and positive ratings in GOP stronghold Oakland County. Still, somehow, a practically unknown Cox manages to garner exactly 5200 votes more than Peters out of more than three million cast statewide. Anybody wanna bet against my hunch that a few precincts in areas known for their strange fluctuations in other elections experienced an unlikely surge in Cox support to the tune of 10,000 votes or more? I’ll also bet these precincts are in areas where the influence of the Detroit Syndicate is particularly strong.

    Since taking the AG office, Cox has done almost nothing but carry out the orders given him by his bosses in Detroit, for which they have been paid lavishly by “clients.” He is ordered to, among other things, go after business competitors of their clients. If he refuses or steps out of line in any way, they will release all the dirt they have on him regarding his personal transgressions and even pin on him the guilt and full responsibility for a few of the favors he’s done for them.

    He has even carried out their orders to hinder and cut short the state police investigation into the Tamara Greene contract hit. Ask any of the state cops who tried to work on that case. They’ll tell you.

    So while Cox and his little office of creeps like Shirvell are doing jobs for the Detroit Syndicate, they don’t give much thought or time to the real business of the AG’s office. This is why this Shirvell stalking situation developed right within their midst and nobody there seems to have noticed or to be on the ball in dealing with it. In the Cox AG office they are not used to having to do their actual jobs or even having to think consciously about their role in the state’s actual justice system. It isn’t their reason for being there.

    Now children, do we all understand now why Cox wanted to be Governor? Do we all understand why so much of the GOP establishment in Michigan found it important to keep that from happening? If he were a good AG with integrity, believe me, he would have been without a doubt the GOP’s best candidate by far. The fact that even they didn’t want him to go further should tell you something. Their not exactly known for their unwillingness to allow corrupt pieces of shit to win elections for their party. It takes a rare dirt bag to be recognized by the Republican Party as being too low for carrying out their objectives. If any of you don’t believe me, watch what job Cox takes next.

    Gee, I hope this isn’t too much information. And I hope I am not just a horrible cyber-bully who for some odd reason has chosen this poor innocent attorney general as the target of his obsessive hostilities. Maybe I’m just some mentally fucked up closeted homo like Shirvell and I just don’t know what to do with all my suppressed impulses. If that is the case, maybe Mark should order me to take a leave of absence from this blog. Oh wait, no! Maybe I should take it voluntarily and then we can have a disciplinary hearing when I return. Yeah, that’s it…I think.

  15. Oliva
    Posted October 2, 2010 at 2:00 pm | Permalink

    Hardly, Robert. It’s brave, rigorous work to reveal such things (find them out, look further, write them down, get them out, care, etc.). So, thanks (same goes for Mark).

  16. Robert
    Posted October 2, 2010 at 2:19 pm | Permalink

    David Layton, the Democratic candidate and genuine crime fighter who is running to replace Cox, has now called on Cox to fire Shirvell.

    Here’s a link:

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/David-Leyton-for-Attorney-General/344580203342

  17. Bob
    Posted October 2, 2010 at 3:04 pm | Permalink

    I despise Mike Cox just based on his public statements and certainly wanted to see him defeated as candidate for Governor. But Robert, where in the world are you getting these allegations from? Pretty strong stuff. I’m dying to know where you learned all of this information. I would think that a guy with as many enemies as Cox seems to have would have been happy to link the guy to organized crime as you have done.

  18. Robert
    Posted October 2, 2010 at 3:22 pm | Permalink

    They do, but none of them would feel it wise to post these accusations to a blog. Nobody else would have reason.

    In person I can go into much more detail, and would here except I wouldn’t want to mix it up with Cox’s masters. I have respect for their power. I just want to taunt their dimwitted errandboy. They know what he is.

  19. dragon
    Posted October 2, 2010 at 6:31 pm | Permalink

    Shorter Robert:

    This is Papa Bear. Put out an APB for a male suspect, driving a… car of some sort, heading in the direction of, uh, you know, that place that sells chili. Suspect is hatless. Repeat, hatless.

  20. Robert
    Posted October 3, 2010 at 12:23 pm | Permalink

    You see, dragon, this is why I don’t respect you.

  21. Robert
    Posted October 3, 2010 at 5:19 pm | Permalink

    I was hoping we could all get together for a nice long bus ride to DC on the 30th during which I’d have the opportunity to share, in person, and in disturbing detail, my experiences trading punches with the Chicago and Detroit Syndicates. I’ll have wusses like dragon wetting their pants. I promise.

  22. Robert
    Posted October 4, 2010 at 10:39 am | Permalink

    To be fully honest, we haven’t traded punches so much as I have just taken a few and lived to whine about it. Still, I consider this something of an accomplishment considering what I am certain would have happened to some shut-in type or academic had they found themselves in my shoes.

    After having to endure the childish taunting of some homebound yahoo here on Mark’s illustrious blog I have often considered posting a resume of some of my relevant credentials here, but after some consideration have always thought it better tact to hold off on that at least until the impact would be greatest.

    But to answer one of your questions, Bob, I get my information from many diverse sources which I have come to recognize as accurate and insightful over the course of many years. These go back as far as the late 80s and into the early 90s when for some time I worked in Wayne County government and ran in circles with various individuals well in the know about all sorts of matters. And, like I’ve said, I am much more forthcoming with specifics when communicating in person, instead of on some blog where I can’t completely manage who receives it and how.

    By nature I have been a person who has an eye for (and a morbid curiosity about) trouble, and there is plenty to be found out there in the world. If your inclination is to stay out of and away from it, the benefits are obvious, but you’re not likely to develop much of an accurate understanding of politics or business.

  23. Stephen
    Posted October 4, 2010 at 1:17 pm | Permalink

    From AnnArbor.com-

    Shirvell worked in Cox’s office as an intern in 2003 and 2004. He got a full-time job there in 2006 when he graduated from Ava Maria School of Law.

    In addition, Shirvell was one of a handful of paid consultants on Cox’s reelection campaign as he ran for attorney general. Campaign finance records show Cox’s campaign paid Shirvell $13,478.42 in fees and reimbursements from August to November 2006.

  24. dragon
    Posted October 4, 2010 at 1:29 pm | Permalink

    Walter Mitty is a hell of a drug.

  25. Oliva
    Posted October 4, 2010 at 2:42 pm | Permalink

    Robert, it’s a relief to know you want the entire bus trip to DC (and back?) to illuminate–not, say, six hours! I just saw this from James Fallows re. O’Donnell–for your chuckle:

    . . . vast reserve armies of conspiratorialist lunatics anyone in any branch of public life (media, politics, civil service) encounters over the years. I’m never sure which is worse: the person who says, “If you will just spend six hours with me on the phone discussing my single-space document with handwritten marginalia, you will finally understand the true conspiracy!” Or, the person who says, “I wish I could show you the single-space document that contains the final proof, but They would come to get me if I said another word.” It’s a close call.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/10/of-course-i-was-going-to-vote-for-christine-odonnell-before-this/64028/

  26. Lorie Thom
    Posted October 4, 2010 at 4:18 pm | Permalink

    Seems Andrew has been ducking the paper work service for the restraining order and thus the judgment has been put off for 3 weeks.

  27. Posted October 4, 2010 at 6:50 pm | Permalink

    I know they’re looking into any prosecutions pursued by the Attorney General’s office in which his obviously deranged preoccupations with homophobia may have somehow contributed. I’m curious to see what, if anything, they find. And I’m curious as to who paid his way through Ave Maria, which is essentially a training camp for these kinds of culture warriors.

  28. Robert
    Posted October 4, 2010 at 7:20 pm | Permalink

    @ Oliva: Yes, my seminars are much more interactive. That’s why I need the whole 20 hours to DC and back. I don’t have any essays I can just xerox and hand out either. I’m way too lazy.

    @Lorie Thom: That is funny! Now there is a process server stalking that stalker-freak Shirvell. Our assistant state attorney general is ducking a process server! …I love it! …Pure Michigan.

    @Mark: I think you are onto a scent like a bloodhound. I’m glad I can’t smell it. I can only imagine how horrible it must be for you. Cox and Monahan probably have Shirvell in some sort of makeshift safehouse for freaks while they do some disinfecting.

  29. Robert
    Posted October 4, 2010 at 7:31 pm | Permalink

    @ dragon: Your mysterious references are so clever. I’m no match for you. I should have known. You tried to warn me with the scary pseudonym.

  30. Larry Seven Larry
    Posted October 5, 2010 at 12:14 pm | Permalink

    This headline should have led the national news cycle.

  31. Knox
    Posted October 6, 2010 at 6:06 am | Permalink

    Armstrong is scheduled to appear on Anderson Cooper 360 this Wednesday.

    http://www.michigandaily.com/content/armstrong-scheduled-appear-ac360-wednesday-night?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook

  32. Fred
    Posted October 18, 2010 at 1:34 pm | Permalink

    Was this little douche ever served his papers?

  33. Kim
    Posted October 22, 2010 at 11:45 am | Permalink

    Joe Miller has an anti-gay troll on his payroll too. Maybe it’s a status symbol with Republican law makers, like having a trophy wife.

    http://www.salon.com/news/politics/2010_elections/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/10/22/joe_miller_terry_moffitt

  34. Meta
    Posted October 25, 2010 at 8:32 am | Permalink

    Shirvell is supposed to appear in Washtenaw County court this morning.

    http://www.freep.com/article/20101025/NEWS06/101025008/Assistant-AG-Shirvell-to-be-in-court-today-over-PPO-request

  35. Tim T
    Posted October 25, 2010 at 9:50 am | Permalink

    Armstrong is dropping his restraining order request. I hope he knows what he’s doing.

    http://www.annarbor.com/news/chris-armstrong-drops-request-for-ppo-against-andrew-shirvell/

  36. EOS
    Posted October 25, 2010 at 10:05 am | Permalink

    Meta,

    The link has been updated. The PPO request has been dropped – no court appearance today.

  37. Meta
    Posted October 25, 2010 at 2:21 pm | Permalink

    Now Shirvell is threatening to take UM to court.

    http://www.annarbor.com/news/assistant-ag-attorney-threatens-lawsuit-against-university-of-michigan/

  38. un-pogo
    Posted November 7, 2010 at 3:52 pm | Permalink

    Whatever happened to “follow the money”? Robert, it seems, is nibbling. But, to a non-Michigander, the Detroit’s new, improved Purple Gang and their hooks into Tom Monaghan should be of interest. When Monaghan sold his Detroit mobster-favored Detroit Tigers (winning 1983 Series courtesy of Las-Vegas-owned umpires, oh, yeah, that’s redundant), he sold it to fellow mob beard Mike Ilitch whose mobster-favored Detroit Red Wings are a mob-backed hockey dynasty. Ilitch, as you all know, has a spouse-beard, Marian, fronting for her husband’s interest in the Motor City Casino.

    Used to be that anyone who had the slightest whiff of casino (according to well-recorded history, casinos remain cash cows for mobster operations, even the ones wearing non-sharkskin suits) couldn’t get anywhere close to respectable sports franchise ownership. Now they all stink. The handle on international gambling is in the $trillions; buys a lot of pols who tend to come cheap anyway.

    In other words, this isn’t just a Michigan problem. But, when you’re in Michigan and concerned about the way your state is run, forget the small stuff, the creep-you-out Catholic closed community of Monaghan and his rumored preference for guys … except as its relates to how mobsters always use those kinds of habits to control their beards. May be that’s why Monaghan had to sell the Tigers and may be that’s why he had to do public show (fake) penance by hiring mob construction companies to build an entire JESUSMARY’N’JOSUF cloister town. And back pols that the mobsters have already had their suits interview (just like any job) for the candidates’ views on keeping gambling industry interests politically happy.

    Poke into those dark corners. ‘ Course, you might get into real trouble, then.

  39. Edward
    Posted November 8, 2010 at 3:30 pm | Permalink

    Shirvell was fired today.

    http://www.freep.com/article/20101108/NEWS06/101108039/1318/Andrew-Shirvell-fired

  40. Larry Seven Larry
    Posted November 8, 2010 at 4:39 pm | Permalink

    That’s nice of Cox to clear the decks before the new AG comes on and has to deal with it. One wonders if Shirvell will still be able to practice in Michigan. Actually, with an Ave Maria degree, one wonders how he was able to in the first place.

  41. Meta
    Posted August 17, 2012 at 8:10 am | Permalink

    The court case is over and, according to Armstrong’s attorney, Andrew Shirvell has been ordered to pay $4.5 million.

    A jury has found in favor of a gay University of Michigan student body president in his lawsuit against former Michigan assistant attorney general Andrew Shirvell.

    Christopher Armstrong’s attorney Deborah Gordon says a jury in U.S. District court awarded her client $4.5 million Thursday in his case against Andrew Shirvell. Armstrong accused Shirvell of defamation and causing the student emotional distress on an anti-gay blog, in Facebook posts and during visits to the Ann Arbor campus.

    Read more:
    http://annarbor.com/news/lawyer-andrew-shirvell-ordered-to-pay-chris-armstrong-45-million/#.UC5B-ETNe9c

4 Trackbacks

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mark Maynard, John L. Knight. John L. Knight said: Shirvell taint extends to Cox http://bit.ly/bnDJCc […]

  2. By Armstrong speaks out on Shirvell harassment on October 7, 2010 at 7:54 pm

    […] Armstrong, the University of Michigan undergraduate student body president being harassed by Assistant Attorney General of Michigan Andrew Shirvell, appeared with Anderson Cooper last night. Here’s the […]

  3. By Shirvell taint exposed to nation on November 2, 2010 at 8:52 pm

    […] suspect that you’ve all seen it by now, but the Daily Show had a great piece last night on our Assistant Attorney General, Andrew Shirvell, and his creepy fascination with a gay male undergra…. Here’s the […]

  4. […] The laughter stopped, however, when it dawned on me that the Emergency Financial Manager assigned to Ypsi could very well be our old friend Andrew Shirvell. […]

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