In November's midterm election, Michigan voters will choose a new Attorney General. The state’s current Attorney General, Dana Nessel, is term-limited.
Here at Michigan Public, we’re bringing you interviews with the candidates.
Doug Lloyd is the Republican Party nominee. He's currently the Prosecuting Attorney for Eaton County and a former president of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan (PAAM). He spoke with Stateside host April Baer.
April Baer: Can you tell us a little bit about what motivated you to take on this campaign for state Attorney General?
Doug Lloyd: Well, I've been a prosecutor for the last 30 years. Since 2013, I have been the elected prosecutor in Eaton County. It's been my life's work, making sure that we are standing up for the men and women of our community and keeping our community safe.
And for me, you know, as a past president of PAAM and, you know, as a prosecutor, I've had the ability to see how our state's been acting these last eight years. And I didn't like watching an office that I truly respected become partisan. And so I got in this race in order to actually bring back that office to the accountability and integrity I believe it should have.
AB: Tell us about what your experiences in your corner of Michigan have done that would be relevant to the the wider responsibilities that a state attorney general has to accomplish?
DL: Well, what people don't usually realize is that a prosecutor, as well as the attorney general, has over 500 constitutional and statutory responsibilities that I have to be concerned about every day. You know, I helped create our economic crime unit back in 2003 here in Eaton County. We began focusing on consumer protection crimes. We began focusing on organized retail theft crimes. I've gone after individuals, you know, in construction fraud cases. I've focused on cases where people have taken advantage of senior citizens who have then lost money because of it.
We've actually done cases for the state as well when it comes to things such as welfare fraud. To the tune, that we've actually returned $10 million to people within our community through the Economic Crime Unit. You know, I also have the experience of actually having four years before I became a prosecutor, being a general attorney, of doing all those things in the civil world that an attorney general's office does.
AB: Give us an idea, if you were to be elected to this office, of what your priorities would be for your first 100 days.
DL: Well, obviously, as a prosecutor, I'm going to focus on public safety. You know, there's a reason that I'm endorsed by over 60 prosecutors, dozens of sheriffs and thousands of police officers through the Police Officers Association of Michigan and Fraternal Order of Police. It's because they understand that a good attorney general actually should be working with local law enforcement and local prosecutors to actually handle the cases that affect our communities.
Second thing we're going to do is we're really going to focus on things that, you know, make Michigan more affordable. We're going to really lean into organized retail crime and make sure that we're focusing our, you know, our work on that. When you do that and you help businesses actually stop the thieves, well, businesses are then able to keep their prices down. That helps our citizens actually be able to afford to get the groceries that they need. We're going to also make sure that we're bringing a consistency to regulations. We're seeing businesses leave the state because they are frustrated with our government and their ability to actually understand what they're supposed to be doing. The attorney general has an ability to help with that.
And the third thing I really think we need to get back to is actually enforcing the law. There's a real difference between my opponent and myself. My opponent's made the decision that he is actually going to pick and choose the laws. Well, guess what? We have a legislature that actually creates the laws. We have a Supreme Court that determines the constitutionality of the laws. The attorney general, well, it's charged with actually enforcing the laws, and we're going to get back to doing that.
AB: Doesn't any prosecutor have to make priorities, though, within the context of the office? Eli Savit's (the Democratic candidate for AG) explanation of his choosing to decriminalize some offenses has to do with existing resources. Are you suggesting that you've never had to make any choices to reprioritize cases within your office's purview?
DL: Everybody that I know who's a prosecutor, except my opponent, makes the determination on a case by case basis. No one proceeds to say, well, this specific type of crime, we're just going to ignore it or not enforce it. No. Our job is to look at each case individually. And that's what, you know, that's what prosecutors do or should do. My opponent made the determination that he was just going to take a wide swath of cases and just choose to ignore them. It's not how you keep a community safe.
AB: There have been candidates for several higher offices who have suggested that Michigan's data centers should be subject not to federal regulation, but to a more local, possibly state regulation. Can I ask a little bit about what your views are about whether the Attorney General's office has a role to play in setting guidelines for how these projects are built in Michigan?
DL: There's a lack of transparency in the government. When I talk to the people across the state, and we put on about 75,000 miles across the state, and that is a topic of discussion. But when I'm in the communities, people in the community want to have that local control. They want to know that they have the ability to say yes or no to a business, or at least have part in the conversation. And I believe part of the frustration, too, is that they don't see the transparency in the transactions that are taking place. And that's something I believe the attorney general has the ability to be involved in.
AB: Can you think of any specific guidelines that you think would add to the transparency when these projects are in the drafting stage or at the approval stage with local governments?
DL: Well, you're talking power, so obviously they want to know that their electric bills aren't going to go up. Data centers have changed. They're not using water as much anymore. They're using an actual process that everything is internalized.
But if they are using water, is that water going to be coming from the community? You know, how is that going to be dealt with? How much is going to be used? How will that affect the community's water system and whether it be their wells or an actual city system. Those are specifics that I know that the people are concerned about, and those are the specifics that need to be answered. You know, when a business comes into the community.
AB: Can you tell us a little bit about how you would try to steward the resources and communicate with the legislature about the needs for the Attorney General's office if elected?
DL: You have to be willing to sit down and talk, whether it be in a hearing or whether it be, you know, just over coffee. And explain to them what exactly it is the Attorney General's office does. Each government agency only has so much budget. So you have to be able to understand what the budgetary requirements are and actually make those dollars work.
Our jobs are to be good stewards to the taxpayers. I want to make sure that I'm actually realigning the office to use the resources that we have to actually benefit the people. So you take the budget that the state gives you and you work with it.
Editor's note: Quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity. You can play the full audio of this interview near the top of this page.
