Frank Kelley Gets Ten Years, Wants More

Frank Kelley Gets Ten Years, Wants More 

    A strange phenomenon hits incumbent politicians at election time. Suddenly, after being in office for years, they start making promises about things they are going to do "next year." They seem to think that if they talk about what they could do enough, the voters just won't notice what they haven't been doing all these years.

   Case in point-Attorney General Frank Kelley. Here's a Democrat infamous for his crackdown on radicals in Michigan suddenly putting on a "liberal" image for his reelection bid.

   In a recent speech, Kelley announced his interest in decriminalizing victimless crime, instituting monetary compensation for crime victims. and decreasing the time it takes to bring people to trial.

   Kelley called HRP gubernatorial candidate Zolton Ferency's stand on decriminalization of all drugs "as radical as apple pie and motherhood."

   "Seven years ago, I gave a speech advocating decriminalization of victimless crimes to newspaper reporters, and it was one of the best kept secrets in the state," complained Kelley.

   Unlike many candidates, who realistically cannot bring about changes by themselves, the attorney general has the power to totally alter the current legal system. One of her/his duties is the supervision of all county prosecuting attorneys. An order by Frank Kelley at any point in his term of office since 1962 could have instructed the local attorneys to stop prosecuting victimless crimes.

   "The attorney general's office has a great deal of scope and latitude," says Clarice Jobes, HRP candidate for that office. She points out that the attorney general may have even more power than the governor in bringing about changes in the state.

   "The office has never been filled by someone willing to take initiative and responsibility in another way," she says. "When we are confronted with tremendous social problems, we waste incredible resources prosecuting victimless crimes. We need political forces oriented toward people." Although no serious threat to Kelley, Jobes represents an important alternative. She currently works as a feminist attorney in the all-woman law firm of Jobes and LeBost in Detroit.           "The attorney general ought to be a leader in the reform of the criminal justice system, in the fight against racism and sexism," she says. "Instead, Kelley has lineup with Michigan's reactionary forces on such questions as abortion, bussing and inhumane drug laws."     She has the potential to be a leader. And, as Jobes has told the SUN in the past, if we had more women in Lansing, women would not have to spend so much time straightening out the mess made by the men's club up there.

--Ellen Hoffman