| I wrote a diary yesterday (link) discussing the importance of electing Jocelyn Benson as Secretary of State in November. The reasons for that became even clearer as campaign finance reports were released by the candidates, and as Benson's campaign pointed out in a media release this afternoon, there were some pretty startling numbers. While both candidates raised roughly the same amount of money, Benson's contributions came from over 2,300 individual donors while 90% of Ruth Johnson's money came from only 3 sources: Herself ($345,000), the Michigan Republican Party ($60,000), and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce ($33,000). Johnson's campaign report raises two obvious red flags: 1) Where Johnson came up with $345,000 to give her campaign. Since Johnson won't disclose her personal finances as Benson has done, we simply don't know. Her job as Oakland County Clerk pays her $139,999, which is certainly good money (especially for a job she's not really doing since she's spending her time campaigning), but is it enough to have $345k lying around that you're willing to dump into a campaign? Or are there other sources of income we don't know about that may have potential strings attached to it? Unless she opens her books, voters don't know. 2) With the bulk of the remainder of her campaign funds coming from the Republican Party and their cohorts at the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, it raises serious concerns about whose interests Johnson would be serving as Secretary of State. The people? Or the politicians? Benson's spokesperson probably summed it up best: "Transparency is key to protecting Michigan voters from bought and paid for politicians that indulge in partisan interests,” Bucholz said. “Since Ruth Johnson has no problem self funding her campaign, she should have no problem disclosing her personal finances." So not only is Ruth Johnson not telling what she would DO as Secretary of State, she won't even tell us where the money funding her campaign is coming from. Not exactly the qualities we should hope for from our Secretary of State. Michigan needs Jocelyn Benson! |
