The Schuettes — Like Father, Like Son

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 06/29/2026) The story is legendary in the Bill Schuette household.

As son Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland) tells the story, "most kids on Saturday morning watched cartoons. We watched Off the Record in the Schuette household."

And on one of those Saturdays, a 10-year-old Bill G. Schuette, son of Attorney General Bill Schuette, was watching and abruptly turned to his dad to ask, "Why does that guy keep interrupting everybody?" The reference was to the reporter who did just that when guests on OTR were not answering the question.

Fast-forward to June 14, 2024, as the son appears on … what else … Off the Record. He's now grown up and a member of the Michigan House of Representatives where his dad once served. And "like father. Like son" he's now the one being grilled by the panel. He was asked what advice his dad shared before going into the studio. A father and son duo had never appeared on the broadcast over its 53-year history.

He did not pause. His Dad's words were fresh in his mind.

"Make sure you don't let Tim Skubick push you around too much," as everyone around the table broke into a hearty laugh.

Fast-forward again to June 26, 2026, almost two years to the day when Bill Schuette senior is in the same seat and finds himself being quizzed on an issue that, ironically, his son is working on at the request of House GOP Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township).

Hall picked the younger Schuette to put together a ballot proposal to change the method for picking candidates for state attorney general and secretary of state. The objective is to put the question to Michigan voters this November if enough lawmakers decide to put it there.

The former attorney general said he's been an advocate "for some time" on moving the major-party nomination for both posts to the ballot box as opposed to the convention floor, as is now the case.

Schuette the Dad said it's better for a "participatory Democracy," adding he'd move the primary to June. That way, he explained, there's more time for competing candidates in the same party to patch up their differences from the campaign and create a united front going into the November election. If you do it in August, he said, there is not enough time to mend those fences.

He also favors finding another way to pick the governing boards at Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State boards, which coincidentally is also on the assignment sheet handed to his son by the speaker. And while both of those issues could be folded into a new state Constitution, the former gubernatorial nominee said a “Con Con" is a "bad idea."

"The Constitution of 1963, let's tweak it to the primary issue, and also we have to do something about the university trustee issue."

So, does this mean his son is consulting with this seasoned political warrior, his dad, for advice?

The senior Schuette is adamant that he is not his son's advisor.

"He has to saddle his own bronc," he told the OTR panel … just before he is interrupted.