Question 1): Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has hit a rough patch in her nascent campaign to be the state’s next governor. Her bungling of the official campaign finance/transparency website forced the passage of emergency legislation to extend the deadline for officials to report, and she’s been roundly criticized, even by members of her own Democratic Party, for mishandling it. Then Attorney General Dana Nessel took a swipe at Benson for using a state office building to make her announcement for governor, although Nessel declined to prosecute.
Meanwhile, the state House Oversight Subcommittee is making life hell for Benson on a whole slew of issues. Most recently, the panel is demanding that Benson and Nessel meet with the panel in person to demonstrate in private why they believe they are unable to disclose all unredacted election training materials requested of them through a subpoena. The demand follows months of back-and forth-between Benson’s Department of State and the Legislature, during which time the agency has refused to hand over election training materials for local clerks, supposedly in the name of protecting confidential information. Thursday, the full House went even further— it passed a resolution, on a party line vote (Republicans for/Democrats against) holding Benson in civil contempt.
The question is, does Benson face political repercussions from these missteps?
Answer 1): Ordinarily, we wouldn’t think so, because to the voting public these appear to be ‘nothing burgers.’ However, this has not been a good time for Jocelyn Benson. This will give campaign fodder to her rivals on the “competency” issue. After all, if she can’t shine in a clerical job like Secretary of State, why would voters want to make her governor?
She’s also sitting on another time bomb right now — a campaign finance complaint on which she’s already ruled that Democratic fundraisers last year committed a massive campaign finance violation. Nobody’s heard about it because it’s in conciliation and the media has been asleep covering it. But she’s got to issue a fine to the miscreants soon, and the question is — how big will it be?
Back in 2019, Benson slapped the wrists of her party’s Democratic fundraisers with a measly fine when everybody knew it should have been far larger.
The facts were these: In the summer of 2018, during the primary campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor, an obscure group that ran ads featuring then-candidate Gretchen Whitmer clearly violated the Michigan Campaign Finance Act. The next year, newly-elected Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, like Whitmer a Democrat, admitted as much.
But Benson in 2019 gave the Whitmer campaign a fine of only $37,500 after the organization got away with spending some $2 million in TV ads to defeat Whitmer’s two primary campaign challengers, Abdul El-Sayed and Shri Thanedar. The “settlement” was part of a “conciliation agreement” between Benson’s state Elections Division and the Whitmer-affiliated Build a Better Michigan (BBM) campaign, which was allowed to escape without admitting any culpability whatsoever.
BBM was a soft-money 527 non-profit that broadcasted a 30-second ad in 2018 featuring Whitmer, who appeared in the ad and speaks directly into the camera. The ad was supposedly an “issue ad” like similar ads run for Mark Schauer by the Democratic Governors Assn during the 2014 gubernatorial campaign. Sounds innocuous? Well, no. The ad superimposes the graphic “Gretchen Whitmer Candidate for Governor.” That makes it what is called “express advocacy.” Just putting “Candidate” before “for Governor” does not somehow exempt it from the charge that it is “express advocacy.”
So what are “express advocacy” ads? They are NOT what are called “issue ads,” meaning ads that do not contain words of express advocacy. Issue ads do not contain words of express advocacy for a particular candidate or cause, and therefore issue ads can be paid for using corporate or labor union funds WITHOUT public disclosure of the contributors.
That’s not what the BBM ads were. They were “express advocacy” ads for Gretchen Whitmer as a candidate for Governor.
Flash forward to 2025, and it appears that history may repeat itself if Secretary Benson once again allows a Democratic group to get away with campaign finance “murder.” In March of this year, the Secretary of State found that a group called Climate Cabinet PAC-Michigan violated the Michigan Campaign Finance Act. Now, the Secretary of State is deciding what fine to impose and, without public outrage, there is concern among the few following this story that the SoS will do very little. Some contend this is the worst campaign finance scandal Michigan has seen in years — worse, even, than the one back in 2018.
Key Determinations Made This Year by the Michigan Department Of State in the Case of Climate Cabinet PAC-Michigan:
- Climate Cabinet PAC-Michigan made hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal contributions to candidate committees using funds from its federal “Super PAC” account, which contains corporate donations -– a clear violation of state law.
- Climate Cabinet PAC-Michigan failed to meet the requirements for “Independent Committee” status while making contributions at higher limits than permitted.
- Multiple candidate committees accepted illegal contributions tainted with corporate funds, in addition to accepting excessive contributions. Included among these committees were a scattering of candidates for local office and some two dozen Democratic state House candidates who received and spent about $6,000 apiece in illegal contributions.
None of these documents are as yet publicly available, because Climate Cabinet PAC-Michigan and dozens of affected candidates are currently in the conciliation process with the Secretary of State.
The concern of campaign finance reform mavens is that 2019 will repeat itself: Secretary Benson will impose a comparatively miniscule fine on Climate Cabinet PAC-Michigan, hope the media will make little or no note of it, and brush the whole matter under the rug.
Here is what the campaign finance purists believe should happen here:
- Climate Cabinet PAC-Michigan should be fined a minimum of hundreds of thousands of dollars for making direct corporate and excessive contributions to candidates in excess of $300,000.
- Every candidate who received toxic contributions must refund them back to Climate Cabinet PAC-Michigan.
- Every candidate who received these contributions should also receive a penalty for knowingly receiving toxic contributions.Will Benson do again what she did in 2019? If so, and the electorate is made aware of it, it could tarnish her “election integrity” halo — and hurt her.***************************************************
Robert Nelson says
(Edit)Bill is always bringing up Democratic misdeeds in an attempt to distract from the far more serious Trump scandals.
Did you see where the local media a few days ago tried to tie Donald Trump’s name to Hamtramck where some of his supporters there allegedly conspired to obtain a presidential pardon for a convicted New York financier?
Nothing of substance was alleged – just vague allegations – a lot of heat and no light.
On the other hand, MCL 169.257 of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act (MCFA) prohibits the use of public resources – including office space – for campaign activities. It is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in the county jail.
There is no one in state government with a Michigan State Bar license who would not know that holding a press conference for a run for governor in a government building would be a blatant violation of Michigan law – but a Harvard Law School grad and former dean at WSU Law School is unaware of her obligations under the section of the MCFA? A little hard to swallow.
Some years ago, I and some other citizens had noticed a circuit court judge – now retired – had registered courthouse resources with the Michigan Department of State as campaign committee facilities. That judge received a private admonishment from the Judicial Tenure Commission as well as as a stern warning from a Michigan Department of State administrative law judge after grievances were filed against the offending judicial officer..
The acts of Jocelyn Benson as revealed, at best, illustrate an exercise of poor judgment warranting public admonishment. The Michigan Department of Attorney General should be applauded for their recognition of Benson’s conduct as a MCFA violation.
Manuela Garza says
(Edit)Attorney Jon Marko has promised a big lawsuit with explosive allegations against Hamtramck City Council members and implicating high officials of the Trump administration – but no one is holding their breath.
Hamtramck corruption allegations have been occurring for decades – very little actual criminal prosecution initiated – Dana Nessel did not want to file charges in a recent election case – and it is unclear if any meaningful investigation and prosecution will occur at any time.
I assume you do know that B ill covers state politics,not Washington politics.
Bob: What allegations are you making regarding the Trump Campaign? Or is this just an attempt to throw something unsubstantiated against the wall to distract from obvious serious campaign finance violations and a possible collusion by our top campaign finance official in Michigan? Pete K
Pete you and Bob Nelson are each half right.
Bob, Bill Ballenger by spotlighting the Climate Cabinet PAC-Michigan complaint in this week’s issue of the is not attempting to divert attention away from Trump 47 scandals. Climate Cabinet PAC is the most signicant campaign finance violation since the $2.4 million money laundering complaint filed against two dark money 501 C4’s to Unlock Michigan in 2020-21. I may have some further comments on the complaint and what to expect under conciliation by the Department of State under a separate post.
Pete, the American public has the right to be concerned about Trump’s behavior early in his second term that is very well substantiated, not just thrown against the wall to divert attention from Secretary Benson’s record. I’m not talking about habeas corpus, unilaterally imposed tariffs, impoundment of congressionally appropriated funds, firing of civil service employees, dismantling of departments and agencies by presidential edict.
Let’s just look at some Trump scandals from the past week. Trump has hawked Trump meme crypto coins and hosted an exclusive dinner for 200 undisclosed top purchasers including foreign investors ignoring existing ethics laws. Within days of his inauguration, Trump fired most of the federal governments Inspector generals. Does anyone expect Pam Bondi after downsizing the public integrity division in DOJ or Kash Patel’s FBI to investigate?
Trump flaunts his solicitation of a gift from Qatar of a 747 airplane that he wants to take with him once he leaves office. The Constitution says that to be accepted the foreign gift must be approved by Congress. I read Article I, Section 9, to require Congress’s affirmative action, not mere acquiescence to accept the gift. However, don’t expect Speaker Mike Johnson or Senate Majority Leader John Thune to expedite or even permit a roll call vote on accepting the Qatar gift. Trump is likely to get away with it, because both houses of Congress have abdicated durig this period of trifecta control any oversight over presidential actions.
Finally, let me comment on Trump’s unhinged commencement address on Saturday to graduating cadets at West Point abandoning all appropriate norms by wearing a MAGA red hat, denying the 2020 election results, comparing his criminal indicitments to those of Al Capone’s, and warning cadets about trophy wives and yachts.
“Bob, Bill Ballenger by spotlighting the Climate Cabinet PAC-Michigan complaint in this week’s issue of the is not attempting to divert attention away from Trump 47 scandals. Climate Cabinet PAC is the most signicant campaign finance violation since the $2.4 million money laundering complaint filed against two dark money 501 C4’s to Unlock Michigan in 2020-21. I may have some further comments on the complaint and what to expect under conciliation by the Department of State under a separate post.”
Act Blue’s smurfing and foreign donation conversions are the most significant campaign finance violations in this century, if not all time.
As to your other points, the Qatar 747 was gifted to DoD, not Trump personally. Trump wants it donated to his Library when it is decommissioned, something Ronald Reagan did with his Air Force 1. NARA will own and control all of Trump’s Library possessions, so it will never be an emolument.
The IGs Trump fired were models of federal ineptitude and lassitude. The federal government is rife with corruption which the IGs have ignored or glossed over and it is time for real inspection. Had the IGs been doing their jobs, DOGE would have come up empty handed. They did not. No IG should be retained for any department or agency which cannot pass audit, which is most of them.
What makes you believe that a gift from a foreign government like Qatar to the U.S. Air Force is exempt from the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution requiring the approval of Congress? It is required and the cost to retrofit the plane to Air Force One standards some estimate to be close to a billion dollars making the plane no longer free. Congressional approval would be no slam dunk.
The legal and colloquial definitions of the word ’emolument’, for starters: “the returns arising from office or employment usually in the form of compensation or perquisites”.
At no point does President Trump profit from the Qatari 747, so there is no return to him. The Air Force would be obligated to provide him some form of air transport during his Presidency so there is no profit during this time. NARA hates Trump with a passion (they set up the criminal FBI Mar-A-Lago raid), so they will not be in the least accommodating after his Presidency.
You might also want to look up photographs of President Theodore Roosevelt during his campaigns and Presidency. He routinely wore his Rough Rider cap, which was every bit as politically evocative as a red MAGA cap. TR even wore his Rough Rider cap to his most famous ‘Citizenship in a Republic’ speech. Today, President Trump is indeed “The Man In The Arena”:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
“……………Trump fired most of the governments inspector generals.”
The correct pluralization is “inspectors general”.
LaBrandt’s citing of the Emoluments Clause of the federal constitution has been bandied about by Democrats all during the presidential terms of Donald Trump.
Nothing has ever come of it.
Ask Jack Smith how easy it is to prosecute Trump. $50 million in taxpayer funds expended in two federal prosecutions and he accomplished nothing – but Smith is laughing all the way to the bank.
Nice article, Bill.
Will SOS Benson blunder again is like asking “IS THE POPE CATHOLIC?” YES! It’s almost her default position.
You’ve done a good job cataloguing some of SOS Benson’s failures, yet I would argue that she does not look at them as failures. Now if the newspapers who endorsed her for her SOS races issue public apologies…….
BUNGLING OF THE OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN FINANCE/TRANSPARENCY WEBSITE FORCING PASSAGE OF EMERGENCY LEGISLATION TO EXTEND THE DEADLINE FOR OFFICIALS TO REPORT? Any Democratic criticism notwithstanding, this is not a Benson-specific problem. This is a long-standing problem in state government. Whether it was Snyder’s attack on UI with that dreadful computer program that had a 94% ERROR rate, or this, the luck of State government with new computer programs could be explained if they put me in charge of implementation. She can (and will) argue that she is just the latest victim of the State implementing a new computer program and that some of the Democratic criticisms – and all Republican criticisms – are political in nature. And she is in part right about that.
USE OF A STATE OFFICE BUILDING TO ANNOUNCE HER RUN FOR GOVERNOR? This is more embarrassing for her, especially given her history as a law school dean (WSU) and self-promotion as an elections expert. As the de facto – if not de jure – chief election officer for Michigan, she really should know better. There really is no excuse for it. I know better, and I only have a B.A. degree from EMU. Terri Lynn Land did not do this. Ruth Johnson did not do this. Candice Miller did not do this. And none of them previously were law school deans. She either did not care or she thought she could get away with it. And with Nessel basically pointing out that the law did not cover her, that may be a correct assessment on her part. If you cannot be punished, you’ve essentially gotten away with it. Strange, I haven’t seen a Detroit Free Press editorial on this.
SLAP ON THE WRIST FOR DEMOCRATIC FUNDRAISERS WHO COMMITTED MASSIVE CAMPAIGN FINANCE VIOLATIONS. Well, which Democrats not named Mike Duggan or Shri Thanedar are going to call her out for this? Garlan Gilchrist? Dana Nessel? Any of the Democrats serving in the state legislature or Michigan Congressional delegation? Any Democrat who does is telling these fundraisers I don’t want or need your money or help. People like that usually don’t win elections. We saw this in 2018 when the GOP nominated Dixon, Karamo and DePerno who had little if any support from the donor class.
You’re right that nobody’s heard about it because it hasn’t been widely reported (except here). The media has been asleep, though a story like this should be grist for the mills of Charley LeDuff and M.L. Elrick. The conciliation process is an excuse, especially the longer the conciliation process takes. But the best thing going for Benson is that she hopes that this activity – relatively small fines but with much larger press releases – will be confused by the masses with accomplishment.
CLIMATE CABINET PAC – MICHIGAN: I suspect they need not worry too much. Even if they are fined, I suspect they should only worry about maybe 1% of their assets or total donations – if that. Such small fines will cause fits of apoplexy and conniptions among the campaign finance purists, but seriously, will those people call out SOS Benson let alone vote for her opponent in the primary and general election? Probably not. Will they call out the Democrats who received money for them in legislative races? Will they launch a PAC to fight them? I’m not holding my breath.
The bigger question is will the media report it? Film at 11? Maybe? We’ll just to wait for more TBRs to find out.
“We saw this in 2018 when the GOP nominated Dixon, Karamo and DePerno, who had little support if any from the donor class.”
Actually we had Bill Schuette, Mary Treder Lang, and Tom Leonard receive the nomination from the GOP for that election cycle – who nevertheless lost with establishment donor funding.
My bad. I meant to say 2022. Mea culpa.
Hi Bill, thanks for another great entry this week.
wrt Q#1: With an homage to Sen. William L. Marcy, “to the victors go the spoils”. Let us not realistically expect too much from a political party owning a 2.5-fecta (Gov., Senate, Courts), of our MI state government.
As the Christians did when commencing to take down the Roman empire, they should begin with reputation. If the Christians didn’t have a better rep than the ruling emperors, it wouldn’t have happened. Of course, the woefully inept MIGOP is starting from a terrible rep deficit themselves. Make sure your levin is better than the levin of the Pharisees . . .. But Speaker Hall, I believe, is on the right track. So is TBR. Clearly, they need more entries in truth forums such as the trustworthy TBR. Perhaps recruiting a few more editorial platforms might help as well.
So too is MI RNC chair, Jim Runestad. He too I perceive is on the right track. As was Amb. Hoekstra.
The Michigan Transparency Network (MiTN) website locks up when you attempt to search Climate Cabinet PAC-Michigan’s (SoS ID 521692) campaign finance expenditures. It also locks up when you attempt to search the ‘Jocelyn Benson for Governor’ (SoS ID 521875) committee.
I’m shocked, shocked I tell you!
Why do Michigan Democrats seem to go to the top? Because scum floats.
The lengths to which Trump sycophants will go to defend the most corrupt president in history is stunning. They don’t attempt to defend the list of shameful acts by Trump spelled out by Mr. LeBrandt.
LaBrant
Were you able to see and read my replies to Mr. LaBrant’s baseless allegations?
Bill,
Another great article. Bob LaBrant’s insights are spot on as our Congressional members are MIA !
How about real names, instead of hiding behind some phony name and shooting off words of wisdom.
Is Ken Grabowski a real name – or an alias?
Jocelyn Benson was groomed since 2010 to become a high-office candidate for Dems in Michigan.
She lost in 2010 to Ruth Johnson for Michigan Secretary of State but one Michigan Democratic Party insider advised me nevertheless this girl has a future as a Democratic candidate for statewide office – and they were correct.
Dana Nessel had been rumored to having a Michigan Supreme Court appointment by Governor Whitmer – but that did not happen. Mr. Hood is now the recipient of a seat on the MSC. Nessel’s career as Michigan Attorney General has led to criticism of poor performance. She likely will not be seeking any higher office because of this perception
I believe that Jocelyn Benson can win the race for governor – regardless of whether it is Aric Nesbitt, Mike Cox or John James as her opponent. James likely has the best shot of winning.
Aric Nesbitt believes he can beat U.S. Rep. John James in the outstate vote.
He wants to pick up Wayne County voters by having a moderate on his ticket as lieutenant governor – likely John Stewart, a former state representative who currently served on the Plymouth Township board.
Nesbitt will be commencing a campaign swing in metro Detroit starting this June.
I suspect Bill, you will be speaking soon to the Mackinac Island conference occurring this week. While not close to a hockey game, it nearly resembled a Donnybrook. And a total hoot for those who don’t give a hoot for the status quo.
My 2 cents I am volunteering now as a semi preview . . . it appears Mayor Duggan widened his window of success given the mudslinging between the parties. However, my sense is that the Democratic battle lines between Detroit and the rest of the state has pretty much atrophied. The fertile voting areas now for Duggan will probably come from the Republican side.
The seismic divide between the Trump hardcore and the MIGOP establishment is as deep as ever but totally fluid in the proximity of the front lines. Both camps are locked in what we archaically and culturally inappropriately call a Mexican standoff. Both sides are waiting for the other side to blink. Historically, the establishment ultimately became the establishment by getting the fringe elements to “blink” which meant to give in for lack of $$. Then their vote gets leveraged into an unappealing candidate come general election day. This time around, it seems a little different.
I really don’t see the grass root MAGA crowd, seeing in the last election that they can vote for Trump but not vote for an unappealing Rogers, giving in. The establishment is really vulnerable to becoming the fringe if they take this fight to the mat, and they find their $$ doesn’t go nearly as far as it used to. And Duggan, the non-woke, the political middle, and the Republican fringe pro tempore, may be the big winners.
For as much as the establishment side reminds all who listen that their milk-toast candidates historically fare better in statewide elections, they conveniently forget the fact that Trump has won statewide MI election too, twice (perhaps 3 times). And it hasn’t been a fun time for those on the opposite side.
Hope to hear from you soon about this, Bill
Your right about the perception of Mike Rogers as someone MAGA devotees as a whole do not trust.
Rogers needs to overcome that perception to win in 2026