Benson Laments Budget After Wasting $9 Million on a Broken Website

Lansing, MI – Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson took to X this week to warn that the current budget passed by the Michigan House of Representatives would force her to lay off 400 workers and said it would stop her from giving employees in her department raises. She also claimed that her department was “efficient.”

But Benson’s complaints ring hollow. In 2023, her office approved a $9.3 million contract with Tyler Technologies for a political “transparency” website that has been riddled with bugs, stripped away bulk access to data, and has made it harder for journalists, watchdogs, and the public to hold politicians accountable. The site has been such a disaster that she admitted there were “unanticipated setbacks” to the Legislature after she was pressured to pause payments to the contractor.

If Benson truly prioritized her workforce, she would not have wasted millions of taxpayer dollars on a website that does not work. Instead, she has put politics and bad contracts ahead of her staff, and she is now using them as a shield in budget negotiations.

“Jocelyn Benson doesn’t have a funding problem; she has a spending problem,” said Gabe Butzke, a spokesperson for Michigan Forward Network. “Benson wasted $9 million on a broken website only to turn around and complain that she couldn’t afford to pay her employees. The issue isn’t the House’s budget — it’s Benson’s own mismanagement.”