Mike Cox Presses Benson: Where Are The SPLC Records?
“Jocelyn Benson took our money, set the timeline, and still hasn’t delivered.”
LIVONIA, MI — Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox today called on Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to immediately release records detailing her office’s communications with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), after the Cox campaign paid more than $5,000 toward Benson’s nearly $10,000 demand and the Secretary of State’s office has yet to produce the requested documents despite being inside the timeline Benson set.
The sequence of events is as follows:
April 27: Cox calls on Benson to release the SPLC files and submits a FOIA request.
April 28: Secretary of State’s office considers the FOIA request received.
May 5: Secretary of State’s office asks for an additional 10 business days to respond.
May 15: Secretary of State’s office demands $10,309.94, requires more than $5,000 up front as a deposit, and claims it needs up to 10 weeks to complete the search.
May 22: Cox pays the deposit to move the request forward.
July 15: Nearly eight weeks after payment of the deposit, the Secretary of State’s office has still not released the records.
“From the very start, Jocelyn Benson has controlled the clock and the cost,” Cox said. “She set the price, she set the timeline, and we met every condition. It should not cost taxpayers $10,000 and two months to do an electronic search of Jocelyn Benson’s emails, and it certainly should not take longer than the Secretary of State’s own estimates to do the job. We paid the deposit. We met their terms. Where are the records? What is Jocelyn Benson hiding from the people of Michigan?”
The Cox campaign notes that Benson’s office chose both the price and the timeline and argues that failing to deliver within that timeframe raises serious questions about what the Secretary of State does not want voters to see in the final weeks before the August primary. The FOIA request covers communications between Benson’s office and the SPLC, where she served on the board during a period now tied to a federal indictment alleging fraud, false statements, and money laundering.
“Every day Jocelyn Benson withholds these records, the questions grow louder,” Cox said. “Release the emails. Release the communications. Release the records. Michiganders deserve to know whether their Secretary of State used public office or public dollars to advance the SPLC’s agenda.”
The campaign is continuing to invite supporters to help fund the effort to obtain and release the documents to the public once the Secretary of State’s office fulfills its legal obligations.