Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson will appear Tuesday before a legislative committee to explain how her office is fixing glitches in the state’s financial disclosure portal for lobbyists and lawmakers.
The GOP-led House Oversight Committee asked Benson to personally appear after she sent her chief of staff to testify at a hearing last month on why the expensive new system to collect the reports and make them available to the public was not working.
Benson said at a media briefing Friday that her office is working “around the clock” to reboot the system and fix problems before the next filing deadline.
“And we are dedicated and committed to getting this right and I am personally ensuring that we can do this consistently with our team over the months ahead,” she said.
The disclosure portal is part of the state’s compliance with a voter-approved transparency amendment to the Michigan Constitution. Benson said dealing with the deluge of issues has been a valuable learning experience.
“What we’ve established more than anything is not just a path to a workable, transparent, cost-efficient system for everyone,” she said, “but also a process for continuing to improve it in the months and years ahead.”
Benson has made technical competence and government transparency central to her campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor. The secretary of state can expect tough questioning from the Republican-led panel.
The disastrous launch of the portal has been met with blistering criticism from both sides of the aisle.
Republicans on the panel have also been battling with Benson for months over election materials subpoenaed by the committee. Benson has said her office is making material available as it is vetted to avert the release of information that could damage election security.
