GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Matthew DePerno, the GOP pick for state attorney general, sees the role of the department as a clear one.
“The role of the attorney general is to enforce the law,” he said.
It’s something he feels his opponent, Dana Nessel, has overstepped throughout her first term and is one of the reasons he’s running for office.
Like many GOP candidates, DePerno, who has practiced law out of Portage for 27 years, got into the race frustrated with the previous administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We should never forget that that actually happened,” he said. “Businesses were closed, schools were closed, kids were shut out of school. That’s why I’m the right person. I’m going to keep businesses open, we’re never going to lock down this state again and we’re going to protect the rule of law and the constitution.”
DePerno has accused Nessel of going beyond the scope of her authority on COVID-19 and other matters and pointed to lawsuits against Catholic adoption agencies and her commissioning of a one-person grand jury that led to key Flint water indictments being thrown out.
“She’s stepped out of that role,” said DePerno. “She’s decided she’s not going to enforce certain laws that she doesn’t like and that’s not the role.”
If elected, DePerno assures that he won’t make any attempts to change existing Michigan laws. With Proposal 3 on the ballot alongside him, the pro-life DePerno also assured he would enforce the initiative that would codify abortion access in the state’s constitution.
“Well, I’ll have to, it’s the rule of law, that’s what the people voted in,” he said. “Again, it’s not my job to change the law it’s my job to enforce the law.”
If Proposal 3 were to fail, Michigan would revert to a ban that was authored in 1931, one DePerno says he supports but has some issues with. The law would ban abortion in all cases, including rape, incest and a threat to the life of a pregnant mother, and would make performing the procedure a four-year felony.
“We'd have to uphold the law because that's the job however I am on record as saying there needs to be changes to the 1931 law, and I'd be an advocate for those changes,” said DePerno. “The 1931 law was passed in 1931 before a lot of advancements in technology, before advancements in some birth control, and I think the 1931 law doesn't take into account some of that.”
DePerno has previously expressed his support for the 91-year-old ban but said in an interview with FOX 17 that he would seek clarity on some of the provision’s language.
“Definitionally, how it defines the life of the mother is very problematic,” he said. “I think that needs to be tightened up and changed.”
DePerno also believes parents should have a “fundamental right” to be involved in their child’s education and called himself a “champion” for parents who feel some race, sex and gender studies shouldn’t be taught in public schools. Although he wouldn’t seek to change any laws regarding education, he noted the GOP-led legislature has several bills pending that would dictate what couldn’t be taught in schools and DePerno would defer to that legislation were it to pass.
DePerno also has plans to curb the flow of dangerous fentanyl into Michigan and says more attention needs to be paid to the state’s northern border with Canada and the nation’s southern border with Mexico to make that happen.
“Fentanyl is coming across the border from Canada as well as our southern border,” he said. “We’ve got to start prioritizing that as a problem, we’re not doing it right now.”
He also wants to be tougher on community crime. With Michigan State Police data showing a 12.7% rise in violent crime since 2020, higher than the nation's 5.6% rise since then, DePerno would make no considerations for reducing cash bail and work closely with local sheriffs.
“We need to start funding the police, giving them the resources they need, giving them the counseling services they need, and making sure that when they go out and do their job, they have the backing of the attorney general’s office,” he said.
But DePerno himself is currently under the investigation of a special prosecutor, accused of being part of a group that illegally seized voting tabulators from local clerks after the 2020 election, taking them back to hotel rooms or Air BnB rentals, and running tests on the machines in an attempt to identify irregularities.
DePerno’s opponent, Nessel, was originally investigating the case in her capacity as attorney general but asked for a special prosecutor to avoid a conflict of interest once it led to DePerno. That investigation is still ongoing.
“We know we didn’t do anything wrong, we know that this is merely a distraction,” said DePerno on the investigation. “All of this was Dana Nessel. She did this, she did it for political reasons.”
In his potential capacity as attorney general, DePerno would hold great influence over the state’s electoral process. He wants to see the implementation of voter ID laws and do away with automatic absentee ballot requests being sent to every voter.
DePerno has also been accused of aggressive billing tactics and of using the lawful but uncommon method of putting his client’s property up for legal collateral. It’s led to several complaints against him.
“We have a state bar that looks into these types of complaints,” he said in response. “They've looked into everything. There's never been one single instance where I have been disciplined in any way by the State Bar.”
As for accepting the results of the upcoming midterms, DePerno wouldn’t say whether he would concede the race if he were to lose.
“I'm going to win. So I'm going to accept the results,” he said. When pressed again, “I'm going to win. So I'm going to accept the results,” he repeated.
WATCH our full interview with DePerno:
For more information on the Matthew DePerno campaign, click here.
The midterm elections will take place on Tuesday, November 8th. Polls are open in Michigan from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.
