Report Reveals Former Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell Was Warned About Using Office Resources For Anti-Gay Attacks Well Before Beginning Blog Targeting Chris Armstrong

AnnArbor.com is reporting that former Michigan assistant attorney general Andrew Shirvell was warned repeatedly regarding the use of state resources to initiate anti-gay attacks on politicians two months prior to his targeting the openly gay University of Michigan student body president, Chris Armstrong. The earlier warning arose from an e-mail Shirvell sent at 11:57 am February 3rd, 2010 to a former state representative before a protest planned at the Capital building, although the nature of the protest is not clear. “The grassroots will NEVER let you and your faggots ... hijack our pro-life, pro-family party in pursuit of your PERVETED radical homosexual agenda,” wrote Shirvell to former Representative Leon Drolet and others. One recipient of the e-mail contacted the attorney general’s offices, prompting Shirvell’s supervisors to warn him not to use state resources in that manner again and not to “engage in that conduct again.” But he did, according to an investigation complied by attorney general’s offices, which eventually led to creation of a 586-page investigative report on which Shirvell’s termination was based. That investigation was begun after Shirvell, a University of Michigan alumnus, began an anti-gay blog targeting Chris Armstrong, shortly after the first openly gay U of M student body president was elected in the spring of 2010. The investigation concluded that Shirvell called police to falsely create a newsworthy event, improperly using state resources, and verbally assaulting his supervisor, that event a bizarre outburst that occurred August 31st, 2010. Throughout, Shirvell has maintained that he simply exercising his right to free speech and that all of the activities took place outside office hours.