Latest news with #MichiganTransparencyNetwork
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Benson chief of staff apologizes to legislators for buggy new campaign finance reporting system
House Oversight Committee and the House Appropriations General Government Subcommittee meeting in joint session. May 20, 2025 | Photo by Ben Solis It was a rough day for the Michigan Department of State on Tuesday as lawmakers from two separate legislative committees grilled officials about major ongoing issues with the state's new campaign finance reporting system. The haranguing was a bipartisan affair, with lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle taking turns sharing the frustrations and disbelief over the lack of functionality of the state's $9 million Michigan Transparency Network project, which launched late last year and replaced the aging Michigan Electronic Reporting and Tracking System. Much of the ire was aimed at Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in the 2026 race. Christina Anderson, Benson's chief of staff, appeared before the joint committee Tuesday to apologize for the shape of the system and vowed that the department would work nights and weekends until the issues are resolved. 'The current performance and usability of all functions of the MiTN system is below [Benson's] standard of excellence and we will be working nights and weekends until it is fixed,' Anderson said. 'The problems with the MiTN launch are deeply serious to us. We have a dedicated, talented team along with our top executives engaged in resolving this. … We will not pay another dime on this project until the system meets our standards, and I know that my team and the team at Tyler are committed to making this work, quickly.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Halting payment to Tyler Technologies, the vendor chosen for the project, was included in the department's next steps to fix issues and bring the site up to full functionality, Anderson added. Republican members of the House Oversight Committee and the House Appropriations General Government Subcommittee, which met jointly on Tuesday to discuss the website's woes, raised concerns about the cost of the project, its vendor and the bid process used to select them, as well as privacy and data concerns with the new website. Several Democratic members of the committee had different concerns, like being able to submit accurate information on time according to Michigan campaign finance law, and worries about future ballot access if that information isn't transmitted to the state properly. Anderson testified before the committee with representatives from Tyler Technologies. In an overview of the decision to move to the MiTN system over the old MERTS program, Anderson said the previous system was antiquated, inefficient and had consistent problems that required significant updates. Anderson said a request for proposal was issued on the project in July 2022. The state had two bids – one from Tyler Technologies and another from TenX Software. New finance disclosure laws were passed a year later, necessitating an overhaul to the system to include that data along with the normal course of campaign finance reporting. MiTN was slated to launch in July 2024, but that date was pushed back until the end of the year, when it launched its system for lobbyist and agent disclosures. MiTN's campaign finance module was launched in March of this year. Issues arose with the new system upon launch, with many frequent users complaining about the lack of search functionality, a new login page that was not part of the old system and incomplete data. A summary page for candidate filings that outlined the total expenditures, contributions or campaign committee debts on one easy to read page was also absent. Overall, Anderson said Benson and the MDOS team in charge of the project were pushing to complete the overhaul in an off-election year, but also by the end of the secretary's term. In their zeal to meet that deadline, however, mistakes and data issues arose that led to the release of a faulty product. 'These launches, while able to capture the required filings, did not meet our standard of excellence,' Anderson said. 'We struggled through a complicated data migration and had problems with our test environment reflecting the production environment. Essentially, things we thought were fixed were not.' Of the total five-year, $9 million contract term with Tyler, the state has spent just more than $3 million, including $2.3 million on implementation and the rest on maintenance and hosting. Further payments were suspended to Tyler until each of the current list of 40 separate website issues were resolved. Anderson said substantial work was being done to get the system up and running properly by the next candidate filing deadline, July 25. Search and bulk data upload functionality are a priority, Anderson added, and the website will again feature a summary page for easier access. House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay) asked who made the decision to switch the systems. Anderson said it was a joint decision from several individuals in the Bureau of Elections, but she said she also supported the decision to launch the module when the department did because she believed the issues were fixed. Anderson said she would have not made that same decision, in retrospect. DeBoyer also questioned the bidding process that selected Tyler Technologies, which has been the subject of bad press over its technology products and was named in several lawsuits across the nation. Although the Department of State had two initial bidders, TenX was disqualified, leaving only Tyler to bid on the project. DeBoyer equated that to a single-source bidding process because the department didn't seek an alternate after punting the TenX bid. It was also revealed in DeBoyer's questioning that Tyler had purchased the subsidiary company that owned the state's former MERTS system, raising conflict of interest concerns. Abby Diaz, chief administrative officer with Tyler, told DeBoyer and other legislators who raised reputational concerns that the reporting on their company was largely inaccurate and that several of the lawsuits were without merit. Rep. Tim Kelly (R-Saginaw) asked if Anderson believed the vendor had lied to her about the progress and functionality of the system. Anderson said she did not, noting that the data was displaying differently – and efficiently – in the test environment while the production environment displayed poorly. Kelly continued to question why department staff signed-off on the project each step of the way when issues persisted up until launch. Anderson said that, with any software launch, issues will arise after launch that weren't anticipated, which she said was regrettable. Some Democrats, like Rep. Will Snyder of Muskegon and Rep. Dylan Wegela of Garden City, also said the issues with the website were alarming. Wegela called for a refund of the state's money. Rep. Reggie Miller (D-Van Buren Township) questioned the need for a refund or halting payment if no mistakes were made. She also wondered if Benson had been properly briefed on the issues as they occurred. It was Snyder who raised concerns about barriers to getting on the ballot for sitting legislators and prospective candidates if they can't accurately or timely file their campaign finance and financial disclosures. He asked if the department would be willing to attest, in writing, that no legislators or candidates would be disqualified by the Bureau of Elections due to ongoing issues with the website. Anderson said she needed to be careful in her response because election law was tricky, but said she would submit a response in writing to the committees. In a regularly scheduled news briefing with House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township), the speaker blamed the mess on Benson being distracted with her political ambitions for governor. He also agreed with Snyder's ballot access concerns, noting then-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s ballot access issues in Michigan and Benson's refusal to remove him from the ballot when he turned to support now-President Donald Trump. 'If I were someone like [Detroit Mayor and independent gubernatorial candidate] Mike Duggan, I'd be pretty worried,' Hall said. 'Cornell West, she found some way to disqualify him. With all this chaos, with a website that doesn't work, and a very political Secretary of State running for governor, I'd be worried.'
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Michigan House holds oversight hearing on the Michigan Transparency Network
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS)– Today, two Michigan House of Representatives committees will host a joint hearing to investigate the Michigan Transparency Network. The committees claim it is 'riddled with serious flaws.' The Oversight Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government will meet at the State Capitol at 9 a.m. to question the Department of State on the Michigan Transparency Network (MiTN). Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson introduced the new financial disclosure system last year, after Michigan voters decided in 2022 that they should have public access to the details of their lawmakers' and candidates' finances. Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II, Attorney General Dana Nessel, State Senators, and Representatives, for example, must file financial disclosure reports in the system, as well as interactions with lobbyists. Republican Representatives claim that state officials, political organizations, and lobbyists struggle to submit the required reports because they say the system is 'hard to navigate.' Yesterday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and her office concluded that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson violated the Michigan Campaign Finance Act (). Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson violates Campaign Finance Act, Attorney General confirms In January, the Michigan Republican Party filed a complaint against Secretary Benson, alleging that her use of the lobby violated state election law. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
