The 1998 Democratic nominee for governor of Michigan says he may try again next year. Well-known trial attorney Geoffrey Fieger said so Friday on statewide TV.
The job will be open because Republican Governor Rick Snyder is barred by term limits from running again.
Fieger appeared on Michigan Public Television’s “Off The Record” program. Fieger gained fame as the firebrand lawyer for assisted suicide Doctor Jack Kevorkian. Later, he came out on top of a crowded field to win the 1998 nomination for governor, but lost to Republican incumbent John Engler.
Fieger says he thinks the public is more receptive to his message now.
“We have had a dearth, meaning an absence, of leadership in the state of Michigan for so many years,” he said, “an absence of vision, an absence of leaders, an absence of courage.”
Fieger took aim at Republican leadership in Michigan over the past six and half years, including the state’s right-to-work law, the proliferation of charter schools, and the Flint water crisis:
“You do not run what should be by, of, and for the people as a business because business think of one thing and one thing only – bottom line. The job of elected officials should be one thing and one thing only – the betterment of people.”
And Fieger said his ambitions may not end at the state Capitol:
“If I do run for governor, I’m not going to promise not to run for president because I think ‘20-20: A clear vison for America’ is a damn good slogan.”
Other Democrats who are running or interested in running include state Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, former Detroit Health Department Director Abdul Al Sayed, and attorney Mark Bernstein.