EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT THE POLITICAL ACRONYM “TACO” MEANS — NOW THERE IS A NEW ONE: BACO
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson shares a trait with President Donald Trump. They both Always Chicken Out (TACO or BACO).
Donald Trump imposes high tariffs on an array of goods from foreign nations, and then he backs off when the stock and bond markets tumble.
Benson portrays herself as a political reformer. She says as Governor she will cut off the flow of dark money into Michigan politics and strengthen Michigan’s extremely weak Lobby Law. Yet, time after time, when presented with the opportunity to make meaningful reforms as Secretary of State, she chickens out.
After legislators were first required to file personal financial disclosure reports in 2023, one lawmaker reported receiving a gift valued at $700 for two tickets to attend the black-tie “Auto Prom” which traditionally kicks off the annual Detroit Auto Show.
In all likelihood, Governor Whitmer’s ticket(s) to the 2026 Olympic gold medal hockey game in Milan, Italy, between the USA and Canada was paid for by another charity not currently registered as a lobbyist — the Michigan Economic Development Foundation.
To her credit, Benson’s office issued two interpretive statements during her second term in office on the Michigan Lobby Law, one focused on rules to be followed to provide a public official with a ticket to a sporting event valued over the $76 gift limit by a lobbyist. The interpretive statement said that, before taking possession of the ticket, the public official must pay the lobbyist who had procured the ticket the fair market value of the ticket, using his or her own personal funds. The other interpretive statement prohibited complimentary registration of a state public official to attend the Michigan Association of Health Plans (MAHP) Conference that exceeded the $76 gift limit. Both interpretive statements were later promulgated as administrative rules for Michigan’s Lobby Law.
However, when the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce asked whether complimentary registration could be provided to a state public official to attend the Chamber’s Annual Mackinac Conference, valued at $4,900 for non-members, Benson blinked and backtracked from her earlier MAHP ruling and said public officials’ attendance was not a gift. Benson said public officials were providing something of equal value just by their participation at the Detroit Chamber’s policy conference, held at the Grand Hotel on the Island.
Back in 2021, Benson initially dismissed a campaign finance complaint against Michigan Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility (MCFR) for its failure to register as a ballot question committee. MCFR denied doing any fundraising in 2020, which would have required them to register as a ballot question committee and disclose its contributors. They claimed it had more than $700,000 left over from 2019, a claim that was later shown to be false when the annual report of Unlock Michigan was filed in January 2021 showing it received $1.8 million from MCFR in 2020.
Why the complaint against MCFR was dismissed in March 2021 is mystifying.
It took the filing of a second complaint before the Secretary of State finally found reason to believe a violation of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act (MCFA) occurred. When MCFR refused to sign a conciliation agreement, a criminal referral was made to the Dept. of Attorney General, which in the course of its investigation obtained a subpoena that uncovered emails and bank records disclosing who participated in laundering $1.8 million through MCFR that was contributed in MCFR’s name to Unlock Michigan, allowing the true identity of the actual contributors to be hidden from the public.
Campaign finance watchdog Bob LaBrant, a retired attorney, decided it would be necessary to go after those clandestine MCFR contributors one complaint at a time. Criminal conspiracy may be a violation of the Michigan penal code, but only the Department of State has jurisdiction over violations of the MCFA.
Each complaint would allege a violation of Section 41(3) of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act (MCFA) for “making a contribution in the name of another.”
The first complaint was filed against Land & Company, whose president is Dan Hibma, husband of Terri Lynn Land, former Michigan Secretary of State from 2003-2011, who made a $25,000 contribution to MCFR. The emails between Dan Hibma and Heather Lombardini, President of MCFR, were so incriminating that they led to a finding that there was reason to believe Land and Company had violated Section 41 of the MCFA. Negotiations to resolve the complaint are currently ongoing.
Next up to receive a complaint that alleged “making a contribution in the name of another” was filed against Michigan Energy First (MEF), a 501 C 4 social welfare organization founded by DTE lobbyist agents in 2014 and funded with more than $51,000,334 from DTE corporate profits between 2014-2024.
MEF has made grants, over the past decade, to other 501 C 4 organizations closely aligned to governors, legislative leaders of both political parties in the state House and Senate, and caucus soft money accounts that are used for issue advocacy advertising at election time.
In July 2020, then-Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) and MCFR President Heather Lombardini discussed with DTE lobbyist agent Pam Headley their request for a $100,000 contribution. They were put in contact with MEF’s treasurer, who provided them with the necessary paperwork needed to process the request. This all occurred at a time of peak involvement by Senator Shirkey in fundraising for MCFR in June and July 2020. This occurred at the same time Unlock Michigan was launching its statutory initiative’s petition drive and needed funding from MCFR to pay for signature collection by a petition management firm.
Only a small number of individuals and organizations were reported by Unlock Michigan making direct contributions to it. MCFR accounted for much of it, contributing $1.8 million to Unlock Michigan between June and December 2020 in 12 separate contributions.
It should have been obvious that DTE lobbyist agents did not want to say no to the Senate Majority Leader, but also needed to have plausible deniability if Governor Gretchen Whitmer inquired if DTE was supporting Unlock Michigan’s petition drive to repeal the 1945 Gubernatorial Emergency Powers Act, which she had invoked at the outbreak of the COVID pandemic in the Spring of 2020. The $100,000 from MEF would go through MCFR, not directly to Unlock Michigan, which would have been publicly disclosed.
In the dismissal letter, the Department focused on the absence of incriminating emails similar to those found in the Land & Company complaint. The dismissal, however, ignored the fact that Land & Company’s $25,000 contribution to MCFR and MEF’s $100,000 contribution to MCFR all occurred within two days of each other. How can the disparate result between the two complaints be explained? Both participated in the same conspiracy with Senator Shirkey and Heather Lombardini to evade the disclosure requirements in the MCFA.
The Department conceded in the dismissal letter “that it is possible that MEF violated Section 41.” The choice of the word “possible” sounds a lot like “reason to believe.” The only statement in the dismissal letter the Department got right was “MCFR’s actions may well arouse general suspicion of its donors’ conduct.”
A determination “that there may be reason to believe“ a violation of MCFA occurred is an extremely low standard to meet. The “Reason to Believe” standard is lower than “Probable Cause” (more likely than not) and significantly lower than the highest standard — “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt.”
A finding of “Reason to Believe”’ is all that is needed to begin informal resolution of the complaint provided for in Section 15(10) of the MCFA that uses devices such as conference, conciliation, and persuasion. The MEF complaint’s dismissal was at best premature. Shortchanging the informal resolution process was an unnecessary rush to dismiss by Benson’s Department.
In sum, 52 contributors are documented in the September 8, 2024, district court transcript as having contributed to MCFR in 2020 between June and December. Only one will likely face any consequences: Land & Company. Fifty-one others will skate. The most serious money laundering scandal in the 49-year history of the MCFA could have been a teaching moment by the Department directed at Michigan’s lobbying community for the corruption inherent with dark money had Benson not chickened out.
But does the news media and the electorate really care about any of this? Or have they grown so cynical about the out-of control flow of money awash in Michigan politics that they quickly look past all of this as chicken feed not worthy of their concern?
I think many would love to know who the other 51 are. That may be the first step toward disclosure. Special interests must know, despite assurance to the contrary l, there are no secrets.
Bill Ballenger published the names and amounts of contributors to Michigan Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility made between June-December 2020, in the August 3, 2025, issue of The Ballenger Report.
This information was compiled from a transcript of an AG investigator’s testimony at a preliminary examination hearing before Ingham County District Court.
I wish to point out that Michigan Advance had quoted Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, when she announced charges against Heather Lombardini, that charges against others, including Mike Shirkey, were not justified under current law.
Shirkey held no title in either of the organizations named that Lombardini had ties to, Nessel argued.
Even though Ms. Lombardini is facing up to 14 years in prison on the uttering and publishing charge, if convicted, both she and her Bright Spark Strategies are continuing to receive plenty of business from GOP insiders.
I note that Health Alliance Plan and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan were two of the major donors mentioned in the August 3, 2025 article you cite, and if Unlock Michigan’s goals were in opposition to the public health interests of the State of Michigan, they would be the first to oppose it.
HAPPY EASTER ONE AND ALL!
Nice article, Bill. Seems like you’re trying to NOT get a Christmas or birthday card this year from SOS Benson.
I must admit I have not been especially diligent on campaign finance issues in the past, but I don’t recall anything quite like this during the tenures of SOS Austin, Miller, Land or Johnson.
The issue with Land and Co. is almost comical. Almost. Now I am not particularly gifted with electronic stuff. If there was a WRAT-IV (Wide Range Achievement Test, 4th edition) grade equivalence on computer savviness, my grade equivalent would probably be around 1.3 to 1.5 – on a good day. But even I know that anything sent electronically, like emails, can be found and used against you. Thank you Linda Dorn for that lesson in the early days of email at the Michigan Disability Determination Services. How do folks so clueless ever rise to any position of prominence I will never know. Whether the punishment thyey receive is what they deserve or not, I cannot say now, but the other 51 folks should be grateful that Benson and Co. are running the SOS.
But to your final point – “BUT DOES THE NEWS MEDIA AND THE ELECTORATE REALLY CARE ABOUT ANY OF THIS? OR HAVE THEY GROWN SO CYNICAL ABOUT THE OUT-OF-CONTROL FLOW OF MONEY AWASH IN MICHIGAN POLITICS THAT THEY QUICKLY LOOK PAST ALL OF THIS AS CHICKEN FEED NOT WORTHY OF THEIR CONCERN?” – I fear the answer is NO. I am not sure that it is mostly cynicism, but that would be a significant part, though cynicism, I feel, is more an excuse than a cause. The issue is rather boring to people who are not deeply concerned or interested in politics. Deep coverage would make Benson and other politicians and their funders look bad; Gilchrist’s decision to drop out of the gubernatorial primary would look stupid; and many of their advertisers would stop advertising lest they offend those in power. Though an investigation into the other 51 folks that Benson is letting skate on this issue might be interesting to see who’s who and where their previous donations have gone.
This is yet another example of the non-enforcement of legal violations by Democratic Party insiders under the current regime of Jocelyn Benson and Dana Nessel. This is something that needs to be raised as a campaign issue – especially since Governor Whitmer’s office has not explained the suspicious circumstances surrounding the Olympic tickets for the events in Milan, Italy.
I am surprised if Heather Lombardini, who is now represented by renowned criminal defense attorney Thomas Cranmer, does not raise a defense of selective prosecution.
The lobbying community has been out of control in Lansing for decades. There has been no accountability.
This article also raises the questionable conduct of the Michigan Economic Development Foundation – which is intertwined with the controversial Michigan Economic Development Corporation; as Michigan Campaign Finance Network executive director Neil Thanedar observed:
“Despite their very similar names, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and the MEDF are officially very separate entities. Yet both organizations have a bad habit of jointly acting as if they work for the Governor. In one example first reported by the Detroit News, Whitmer was the featured speaker at a MEDF’s annual reception that current and potential contributors attended. MEDC CEO Quentin Messer, Jr, who is also a member of Gov. Whitmer’s cabinet, also spoke at the event.”
MEDC has been criticized as a slush fund engineered by business interests for the personal benefit of government officials. CEO Messer has been a person of interest in a Michigan Department of Attorney General investigation on $10 million in funding that was earmarked for a friend’s newly-minted non-profit that was never used for its intended purposes as a “business incubator.”
The bottom line is that a credible investigation needs to be conducted as to ALL this overarching misconduct that appears to have occurred. The GOP has every incentive to expose this during an election cycle where the Michigan Secretary of State is seeking higher office and this inaction impeaches her ability to be a transparent and honest governor.