Michigan’s Attorney General determined on Friday that using the Secretary of State’s social media to promote Jocelyn Benson’s Facebook page is perfectly legal.

Because “Ms. Benson’s Facebook page contains more than just campaign-related information,” it’s not a violation of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act when the taxpayer-funded social media Benson controls sends Michiganders to it, Joshua Booth, chief of the AG’s Opinions Division, wrote in a letter to Benson and her legal director, Mike Brady.

“The complaint is dismissed,” Booth wrote.

The finding shuts the door on a campaign finance complaint filed by former Macomb County Chief Deputy Clerk Paul Kardasz last year that cited four examples of the Secretary of State’s Facebook page sharing content from Benson’s Facebook page in late October, as well as other examples of mentions or tags promoting the Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

The alleged violations came months before Benson, a former hate crimes investigator for the disgraced Southern Poverty Law Center, announced plans to oversee her own election for governor in 2026.

Benson was first elected Secretary of State in 2018 alongside Michigan Attorney Dana Nessel, and the duo, along with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have relentlessly promoted themselves as defenders of democracy ever since.

Benson forwarded Kardasz’s 40-page complaint to Nessel as required by law, and Brady officially responded to the allegations in February.

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“The allegations in this complaint are significant. Documented instances show the Secretary of State’s official Facebook page actively sharing, tagging, and mentioning Benson’s campaign page,” Kardasz wrote to The Midwesterner when he filed the complaint in November. “These actions unfairly leveraged taxpayer-funded resources to amplify her campaign’s reach, conferring a substantial financial and strategic advantage.

“Such misuse of public platforms is unethical and raises serious questions about violations of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act,” he wrote.

Brady pointed to phrasing in the act and precedent in prior cases to argue the evidence submitted by Kardasz “does not establish that the posts or the act of sharing/tagging in the posts constitutes express advocacy, nor does the evidence show that the sharing or tagging in these posts results in an ascertainable monetary value.

“Therefore, the Department’s posts and actions do not contain the necessary elements to constitute an ‘expenditure’ or ‘contribution’ as is required to establish a violation.”

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Unsurprisingly, Nessel’s people came to a similar conclusion, opining that because Benson conflates her personal and political life on one page, there may be legitimate reasons for sending followers there that doesn’t involve politics.

“The ‘Jocelyn Benson’ Facebook page also contains Ms. Benson’s views on issues and factual information on matters relevant to the function of MDOS, such as voting,” Booth wrote. “That type of content does not amount to ‘express advocacy,’ and is specifically allowed under the MCFA.

“In actuality, Ms. Benson’s social media is best referred to as ‘mixed use,’ as it contains content about her campaign and MDOS business. Because of this mixed use, there are proper, non-campaign-related, reasons for MDOS to share or otherwise link to Ms. Benson’s social media,” according to Booth.

The complaint is one of two filed against Benson alleging she has illegally leveraged taxpayer resources to promote her gubernatorial campaign.

Christian Charette, a public library employee who ran unsuccessfully to represent the state’s 22^nd House District, filed the complaint in January on the same day Benson officially launched her campaign, which followed a botched rollout the day prior.

“Today, I filed a campaign finance complaint against @JocelynBenson for utilizing public resources during her Gubernatorial campaign announcement, and for abusing the office of Secretary of State to collect information that would later inform her run,” Charette posted to X.

“Jocelyn Benson isn’t shy about touting her ‘administrative abilities’ to ensure #Michigan election laws are followed,” he wrote. “It is unconscionable for her to excuse herself from these same stringent standards.”

Charette’s complaint notes Benson’s press conference to announce her gubernatorial campaign took place “in the lobby of a building operated and maintained with public funds.”

“In an interview with WILX … Benson has admitted to using her office over the last several weeks and months to conduct ‘Community Conversations’ across the state, which helped her inform herself of the issues (to eventually run for Governor),” the complaint read.

“Also in this interview, when asked about why the press conference was inside (reporters mentioning that candidates have routinely been barred from filming their announcements inside publicly owned buildings and instead had to film on the steps of the entrance) she nervously laughed and stated ‘it’s cold,’” it continued.

Benson said in the WILX video that “it’s really important that we as leaders recognize that government must work for everyone, it must be transparent to everyone and accountable to everyone.”

In the months since, Benson spokeswoman Angela Benander has ignored requests from The Midwesterner seeking to clarify whether the Secretary of State’s “Community Conversations” were paid for by taxpayers or her campaign.

Benson banned The Midwesterner from live streaming those events.

The status of Charette’s complaint is unclear, as Benander ignored inquiries into whether it has been forwarded to Nessel.

Benson’s recent campaign finance complaints follow numerous others involving the Secretary of State that have been filed with various lower courts, the State Bar of Michigan, the Michigan Supreme Court, and elsewhere.

Some of those complaints have resulted in court decisions that ruled her election guidance unconstitutional, while others are still pending.

The most egregious examples involve relaxed rules for absentee voting, unethical campaign contributions from Benson’s Michigan Legacy PAC to Michigan Supreme Court Justice Kyra Bolden as she was overseeing cases against the Secretary of State, refusal to purge the state’s bloated voter rolls, and allegations Benson leveraged her office to boost voter registrations in Democratic areas of the state during the 2024 presidential election.