Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office has determined Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson broke the state’s campaign finance law on the day she announced her bid for governor, but there’s no mechanism to penalize Benson, who’s in charge of overseeing campaign finance in Michigan.
In a letter released Monday afternoon, Nessel’s office said that, under current policy, a criminal penalty against Benson, a fellow Democrat, would be impossible because of what might be a “legislative oversight.” The subsection of the law that applies to the secretary of state allows the attorney general to decide whether a violation occurred, but doesn’t include language on imposing a penalty.
Benson held a press conference on Jan. 22 inside the Richard H. Austin Building to take questions from reporters as she launched her bid for the state’s top office. Joshua Booth, chief of the Department of Attorney General’s opinions division, wrote in the Monday letter that the arrangement violated a section of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act that bars public bodies from using their funds or office space to contribute to a candidate….
Asked about the determination Monday, Alyssa Bradley, communications director for the Benson campaign, said her team understood “the Attorney General is issuing a new interpretation of the law.”
…In January, Benson said holding the press conference inside the building — where candidates usually file their petitions and campaign paperwork — was an attempt to prevent frostbite.
Benson’s campaign also released a statement that said, “The lobby space used is a public space where First Amendment activity can occur as long as it doesn’t interfere with the operation of the building.”
Booth dismissed the First Amendment argument in his letter on Monday, noting that the state policy was meant to prevent those who control public buildings from using those resources to influence elections. Allowing campaign activities in a state office building’s lobby would interfere with conducting business there, Booth said….
Bob LaBrant, a longtime Michigan campaign finance lawyer who previously worked for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, said the Benson violation essentially centered on letting reporters inside a building when it was freezing cold outside.
“It’s much to-do about nothing,” LaBrant said.
LaBrant said a public reprimand was likely the only proper legal remedy for allowing people to benefit from the heat of a public building…