A Republican lawmaker in the Michigan House is introducing articles of impeachment against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

The articles accuse Benson, a Democrat, of exceeding her authority, failing to secure elections, and not being transparent.

State Representative Jim DeSana (R-Carleton) said the effort is about holding Benson accountable.

“Her job is to run the Secretary of State’s office and to run elections. We make the law that determine[s] what is the authority over the election. She cannot make that law,” DeSana said during a press conference Tuesday morning.

DeSana laid out several complaints against Benson, including a decision to talk to reporters inside the lobby of a state office building while announcing her gubernatorial campaign. The Michigan Attorney General’s Office found that was likely a campaign finance law violation but said she didn’t have the authority to pursue the matter any further.

Benson had said it wasn’t an improper use of state resources since she said other candidates were welcome to use the lobby as well.

The impeachment resolution also makes multiple references to Benson’s handling of the 2020 presidential election. Dozens of audits since have confirmed President Donald Trump’s loss to former President Joe Biden.

In a written statement, Benson derided the impeachment threat.

“I believe in oversight and I believe in transparency. This isn’t it.

“This is Republican lawmakers abusing their authority to access sensitive election information that would allow them — or any conspiracy theorists they share it with – to tamper with election equipment, interfere with the chain of custody of ballots, or impersonate a clerk on Election Day.

“I continue to call on Speaker Hall and his caucus to work with us and a judicial mediator to help us reach a resolution to this matter.

“But let’s be clear: this clown show he is leading is no way to govern. It is not how we solve problems. It is not how we make government work for everyone. And every taxpayer dollar wasted on these shenanigans is a waste of time and money.

“I remain committed to the security of our elections and to the people of Michigan. I work for them. I suggest the House Republicans start doing the same,” a press release from Benson in her capacity as secretary of state said.

Last month, House Republicans voted to censure her for not fully complying with records requests from the House Oversight Committee.

Those efforts seem to be where House Republican leadership is focused instead of the impeachment resolution.

Gideon D’Assandro is spokesperson for House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp).

“Speaker Hall is working with Oversight Committee to enforce the House’s subpoena against Benson and finalizing a budget plan that will hold her department accountable for its many failures,” D’Assandro said in a text message.

Meanwhile, Democratic leadership in the House minority are calling the entire Benson saga a distraction from meaningful issues like passing a new state budget.

“We’ve talked about, at length, about everything that’s at stake right now. What’s coming our way from the federal government and the budget that’s being done in D.C., and that should be our singular focus right now,” Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton) said.

This week on MichMash, Democratic House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton) joins the show to talk about ongoing tensions between parties within the Michigan Legislature.

Before that, host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow discuss news this week that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson violated campaign finance laws when announcing her bid for governor inside a state-owned building.

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode:

• Michigan AG finds Jocelyn Benson violated campaign finance act
• ‘Political theater’ creating gridlock in the Michigan Legislature
• Puri’s working relationship with House Speaker Matt Hall

In a determination released by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office on Monday, Dana Nessel found that Benson violated the Michigan Campaign Finance Act by holding a press conference in the lobby of a state office building to announce her bid for governor.

Benson has denied the violation, saying she had planned to make the announcement outside the building after filing her paperwork, but moved it to the lobby because it was freezing cold. 

“The law does exist for a reason,” said Gorchow. “[To] prevent government officials from using taxpayer resources for political purposes. Benson’s campaign should’ve rented a facility to hold this press conference. The cost to taxpayers was zero…but Republicans will argue that Benson conveniently ignored the law she’s supposed to enforce, when it came to her own activities.”

Speaking with Roth and Gorchow, Rep. Puri said the Michigan Legislature is “at a crossroads for what the vision of Michigan could be,” calling much of what the governing body accomplished this year unproductive and “political theater.”

“For things to get done there needs to be true bipartisanship,” he said. “Until that changes we will continue to see the gridlock we’ve been seeing.”

Roth noted the strained relationship between Puri and Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township). Puri said he attempted to have a handful of conversations with Hall early on to encourage healthy bipartisanship, but it hasn’t led to meaningful dialogue.

“I’m not a reporter, I’m not President Trump, I don’t think [Hall] has much interest in talking to me,” Puri said. “But jokes aside, you know I think, again, Speaker Hall is engaged in being an actor of political theater. I am taking a much more pragmatic approach here; I understand that we are in split government.”

Puri said with billions of dollars in federal cuts looming over the state, it’s more important than ever for state legislators to work together to find bipartisan solutions.

“There’s a whole host of things that we should be doing to protect Michiganders, from the tariffs, the economic uncertainty…there’s a lot of problems headed Michigan’s way, but here we are continuing to talk and fill the room with distractions and just an unserious approach,” he said.

–WDET Digital Editor Jenny Sherman contributed to this report.

More from WDET:

• MichMash: Michigan House comes to dramatic close, adjourning early
• GOP oversight chair wants Benson to testify on disclosure site glitches
• House GOP, Dems at odds in chaotic budget fight

The Republican-led state House adopted a resolution Thursday to hold Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in contempt for failing to fully comply with a legislative subpoena.

This political battle has been raging for months as GOP lawmakers accuse Benson of obstructing their efforts to examine election processes while she says Republicans’ actions are undermining election integrity.

“So at this moment, I believe there is no other path than introducing a resolution to allow this chamber to consider whether the Secretary of State should be held in contempt,” said Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Twp.), who chairs the House Oversight Committee. “And I am certain that we are within the law. I am certain that we are within provisions that the people of the state of Michigan deserve and want out of their government.”

The resolution cleared the House on a 58-47 party-line vote with five Democrats absent.

Rep. Penelope Tserneglou (D-East Lansing), who sits on the oversight committee, accused Republicans of needlessly stoking a controversy. She called the resolution “an attack on election integrity.”

“The only documents that have not been produced are the ones being reviewed for sensitive information that could compromise the integrity and security of our elections,” she said. “We must stand united in defense of our democratic institutions and reject this dangerous resolution.”

Benson said her office has already released more than 3,300 pages of material to the committee and to the public. But she said her office will not release unvetted and unredacted material that would imperil election security if made public.

“This is government rooted in bullying and chaos and I’m tired of it,” she said during an online press conference following the vote. “It’s not only ineffective but it is dangerous.”

It is not clear what the next steps will be. Benson says she would like to have a judge or some other impartial mediator step in to help resolve the impasse.

The Republican chair of the Michigan House Oversight Committee said Tuesday that he wants Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to personally explain why an expensive new system to collect elected officials’ financial disclosure statements doesn’t work.

Representatives of the Secretary of State’s office and contractors who built the system were grilled Tuesday for roughly an hour and a half by members of two House committees. They were called to testify on a malfunctioning financial disclosure system for elected officials and lobbyists that is part of implementing a voter-approved amendment to the Michigan Constitution.

The back and forth was tense at times as representatives of the secretary of state and the technology company that created the system defended their process and promised improvements by the next filing deadline in July.

Tina Anderson, Benson’s chief of staff, apologized for the crashes and glitches that stopped elected officials from making timely filings and thwarted people from searching filings.

“We know that many system users, including members of these committees, have had less-than-satisfactory interactions with this system,” she said. “On behalf of Secretary Benson, I am here to apologize for these difficult experiences. We take this very seriously.”

She acknowledged the transition to a new system has been rough going, but said it would have been impossible to keep two parallel systems operating simultaneously.

At the end of the session, House Oversight Committee Chair Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Twp.) said he still was not satisfied with the answers.

“What’s been demonstrated in testimony here today is that there was risk, they were aware of risk,” he said. “I tried to get an answer out of who made these decisions and the answer was team, team, team, team, team. But, at the end of the day, the buck stops at the secretary of state.”

DeBoyer said he plans to send a letter asking Benson to personally appear before the committee next month. A Benson spokesperson said they will be on the lookout for the communication.

“We’ll review the letter when we receive it and make a decision then,” said Secretary of State Communications Officer Angela Benander in a text message. 

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson violated the Michigan Campaign Finance Act by using the lobby of a state office building for a press conference to announce she is running for governor. 

That determination was released Monday by the Michigan Attorney General’s office.

This is obviously an embarrassing misstep for the Benson campaign since the Secretary of State is responsible for administering and enforcing campaign finance rules.

The Benson campaign vigorously argued a campaign finance complaint filed by Republican activists was without merit. A provision of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act prohibits elected officials from using public resources for electioneering.

Benson, who is seeking the Democratic nomination, said she moved a media availability from outside the office building to the lobby after filing her paperwork because it was freezing cold. Benson’s campaign also argued she was not acting in her official capacity and was on her personal time as a candidate.

The Benson campaign called the lobby “a public space where First Amendment activity can occur as long as it doesn’t interfere with the operation of the building.”

But the letter signed by Assistant Attorney General Joshua Booth said that is not the case.

“Secretary Benson invited members of the press inside the (Richard A.) Austin Building and then conducted a press conference, professionally dressed, during the day, in the lobby of the building that houses her office,” Booth wrote. “She gave no indication that would lead a reasonable person viewing the press conference to believe that she was there on her ‘personal time.’ Instead, the circumstances would lead a reasonable person to believe that Secretary Benson was acting as Secretary of State with the authority of the Department of State … to invite members of the press inside her office building and use the lobby for the press conference.”

But Booth also said there is no mechanism to fine or otherwise punish the Benson campaign for the infraction because of a loophole in the law. He said the law excludes the Secretary of State while naming other offices covered by the Michigan Campaign Finance Act.

“Consequently, the Attorney General is left with no choice but to simply identify the violation, remind the Secretary of State of her obligations under the MCFA, and warn her against violating them in the future,” he said. He added the Legislature may want to consider closing the loophole that allows for “unequal treatment.”

Benson’s campaign spokesperson called the determination “a new interpretation” of the act which is administered and largely enforced by the Secretary of State.

“We understand the Attorney General is issuing a new interpretation of the law, and we appreciate the added clarity,” said Alyssa Bradley in a text message.

Republicans quickly made hay over the misstep.

“Jocelyn Benson betrayed the trust of taxpayers of Michigan on the day she kicked off her campaign,” said Republican Governors Association Rapid Response Director Kollin Crompton in an email blast, saying “she violated the very campaign finance laws she is supposed to oversee.”

To date, the other announced Democratic gubernatorial candidates are Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and Genessee County Sheriff Chris Swanson. The announced Republican candidates are former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt and U.S. Rep. John James and Anthony Hudson. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is running as an independent. 

At the beginning of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s new memoir, armed protesters surround her house.

It’s December 2020, one month after the presidential election that Joe Biden won. He was not the preferred candidate of the armed mob shouting outside Benson’s home. 

The protestors yelled “treason” and “lock her up.”

In the moment, Michigan’s top election official tried to play it cool, all while her 4-year-old son sat unknowingly in front of the television watching “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

Benson was indeed scared that night. But as she points out in her book, “The Purposeful Warrior,” “standing up to bullies” is nothing new for her. 

She did it investigating white supremacists in the American South, while she was dean of Wayne State’s law school, and during her tenure as Michigan’s Secretary of State amid President Donald Trump’s lies of a stolen election.

Benson joined The Metro this week to discuss her new book and why she is running to be Michigan’s next governor.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

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