Jocelyn Benson Caught Influencing Court Case to Benefit Prominent Campaign Donor

Politics at their Dirtiest: Benson Hides Depth of Conflict of Interest Scandal from Attorneys, Michigan Voters

LANSING, MI, January 22, 2019 – The Michigan Freedom Fund today demanded Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson immediately release all records regarding her settlement talks with the League of Women Voters and their attorneys – one of whom is among her most prominent campaign donors – and to recuse herself from the case to avoid obvious and egregious conflicts of interest.

Benson was just days ago named a defendant in the case brought last year by the League of Women Voters against former Secretary of State Ruth Johnson that sought to redraw numerous Congressional and state legislative district boundaries in 2020.

According to a blistering legal brief filed today in Eastern District Court by Congressional and Legislative Defendant-Intervenors, while Benson has claimed publicly not to have enough information to make decisions on how she will proceed in the case, she has secretly entered into a settlement agreement with attorney and former Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer, a significant Democratic power player and among the most prominent donors to Benson’s campaign. 

“Jocelyn Benson is cutting deals to benefit her campaign donors and hiding the details from attorneys working the case and from the millions of Michigan voters her reprehensible actions will impact,” said Terri Reid, President of the Michigan Freedom Fund.  “Cutting secret deals to enrich campaign donors is more than disappointing – it is reprehensible and disqualifying.

“Voters deserve the truth, they deserve transparency, and they deserve a fair and honest process.  Benson must immediately release to the public all of the secret records regarding her plan to funnel big deals to campaign supporters, then she must recuse herself from the case to avoid additional disqualifying conflicts of interest.”

 

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