State Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Township) introduced a resolution on Thursday to declare Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in civil contempt of the Michigan House of Representatives for illegally defying a subpoena issued by DeBoyer for election training materials. The resolution was passed later that afternoon and formally directs the chamber’s legal counsel to “take steps necessary and proper to ensuring compliance with the House’s subpoenas, including the initiation of legal action.”

In their most recent communication with the Michigan Department of State (MDOS), legal counsel for the Michigan House provided the department with a deadline of 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 22^nd to comply with DeBoyer’s subpoena and provide the requested materials. DeBoyer announced his resolution shortly after MDOS responded saying definitively that they would not be providing any additional materials.

“Jocelyn Benson insists on evading accountability, and unfortunately, this means that we must resort to a legal battle to achieve transparency for the people of Michigan,” DeBoyer said. “Our Secretary of State is clearly very determined to fight our efforts to actually do our job of overseeing the other branches of government and making informed decisions as legislators. While it’s very tragic that one of our highest-ranking governing officials has made herself the enemy of accountable government, we are not going to let her stand in the way of transparency.”

Michigan law gives clear statutory authority to the Legislature to issue subpoenas on matters before one of their committees, also providing that anyone who “fails on demand to produce any papers, books or documents” may be found to be in contempt of the Legislature.

“The Legislature is the body that determines how elections are run – the time, the manner, the place,” DeBoyer said at the press conference. “The Constitution provides us directly with the right to oversee departments and agencies within the State of Michigan to make sure they are operating within the law. We are simply trying to determine, is the Secretary of State’s office administering elections in a lawful manner? This is lawless behavior, and this is the Secretary of State essentially thumbing her nose at the institution – thumbing her nose at everything that makes our structure of government viable.”