(Source: MIRS.news, Published 03/11/2025) House Oversight Committee Chair Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay) held off, for now, on using his committee's subpoena powers to compel Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to give Election Integrity Committee Chair Rachelle Smit (R-Shelbyville) the last pieces of information she is requesting from the Department as she looks into possible improvements to the state's election system. 

With Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf in attendance, Smit asked DeBoyer and the House Oversight Committee to use its subpoena powers, saying she feels like she's been “stonewalled” after her requests for clerk training documents were met with a $9,000 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) bill. 

Smit conceded that after she informed Benson's office on Friday that she was asking for the Legislature to subpoena her office, the Secretary of State coughed up 75% of what she was asking for in about two or three hours. She initially made her requests for the documents Nov. 7, when she was still a minority member of the House Elections Committee. 

DeBoyer said he would pen a letter asking for the remaining 25% of what Smit is looking for within 10 business days. If the department fails to comply, DeBoyer said he would bring the matter up to consider a subpoena. 

“Secretary Benson repeatedly tells the public that her department is a paragon of transparency,” Smit said. “However, my four-month ordeal trying to obtain the most basic of records indicates otherwise. The way Secretary Benson operates her department is not transparency, it's obfuscation.” 

At issue are training materials that are log-in protected. Questions emerged, apparently, over whether lawmakers should have access to the materials out of concern that information could be changed. Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) asked if Smit would be agreeable to having access to the password-protected documents in a read-only format, to which she replied, “Sure.” 

Also, Rep. Sharon MacDonell (D-Troy) noted that Smit's letter for information was 11 pages long. One page had 54 items on it. All told, it's around 600 pieces. Still, Smit said they have a computer system that is not going to take 140 work hours to compile the information. 

Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing) snuck in a zinger question to Smit at the end of Tuesday’s hearing, asking her, “With all of this discussion about FOIA, would you agree that the Legislature should be subject to FOIA?” 

“That is not what Rep. Smit is here to testify on,” DeBoyer responded quickly. 

MIRS asked DeBoyer if the Secretary of State was asked to testify since they were not offered a seat at the testimony table. 

“We let them know on Friday morning that Rep. Smit was going to come here to address this issue and within three and a half hours, information was sent to the Representative,” he said. 

“So, they didn't come to testify?” MIRS asked. 

“No.” 

“You would have let them talk had they come?” 

“Of course. Absolutely," DeBoyer said. 

MIRS sent a request Wednesday morning to Benson's office asking if she had been invited to attend the committee and why it took as long as it did to fill Smit's request. 

In other news from the House Oversight Committee, the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE)'s water withdrawal program was brought under the microscope with a couple of Auditor General auditors testifying in front of the committee. 

Likewise, EGLE was not asked to testify as to why it had holes in its administration of the program, which included unpaid invoices, failures to notify homeowners of noncompliance and failure to conduct water withdrawal requests. 

EGLE Director of Communications Dale George said EGLE did not receive a communication from the House Oversight Committee regarding Tuesday’s hearing, but it did have staff in attendance. While EGLE was not invited to testify at the hearing, he said they are more than willing to discuss our program with committee members. 

“EGLE, in partnership with the Water Use Advisory Council and the Legislature, have made several important investments and changes to the state’s water withdrawal program. These actions began well before the audit and are ongoing.  We look forward to discussing these actions in more detail with the committee,” he said. 

“Unfortunately, during the hearing the Auditor General inaccurately stated that EGLE did not submit a Corrective Action Plan. The plan was completed last summer and transmitted to the Auditor General on September 6, 2024. We have included that transmittal in this email. EGLE has not received any feedback from the Auditor General regarding this submission.”