November 22, 2021
Where Oh Where Has Transparency Gone: Jocelyn Benson Shuts Down Transparency Page
Lansing, Mich., November 22, 2021 – Shortly after taking office, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced her dedication to government transparency and set up a dedicated website to provide “key Department of State information in one place.” The page, like Benson’s commitment to transparency, no longer exists. Early in Benson’s term, the page pledged to post the Secretary of State’s schedule, expenditures, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and other information of interest to the public. Now that the page has gone down, Michiganders find Benson’s waning commitment to transparency troubling and question what Benson is hiding.
While it is unclear why the Department took the page offline, it is a move that shows the SOS is only decreasing transparency in state government. The decision to take this page down erodes the public’s trust in her as Secretary of State, and her pledges to increase government transparency have yet to materialize.
“Jocelyn Benson’s decision to remove her ‘transparency’ site does not come as a surprise,” said Eric Ventimiglia, Executive Director for Michigan Rising Action. Ventimiglia continued, “The Secretary of State’s actions are a step backwards for governmental transparency in Michigan.”
Press note: a search on the “wayback machine” shows that the page has been inactive since at least April 2, 2021.