Both candidates running to be Michigan's next governor have made a key promise to deliver on transparency if they take office. And they won't wait for a bill to change the law on public disclosures to land on their desk, they say.
It's a pledge voters have heard before but Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson and her Republican opponent John James promise they will keep it.
When she first ran to lead the state in 2018, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, like Benson and James, vowed to voluntarily comply with Michigan's Freedom of Information Act despite the exemption for the governor's office for disclosing public records that makes the state a national laggard on government transparency. Whitmer, who cannot run again due to term limits, hasn't
opened her office to record requests.
"Governor Whitmer believes that state government must be open, transparent and accountable to taxpayers," said Whitmer press secretary Stacey LaRouche in a statement that touted action taken by Whitmer, such as setting up FOIA liaisons at state departments in 2019.
LaRouche noted the governor's support for legislation to expand FOIA to cover the governor's office and state lawmakers, which Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, has blocked in favor of his alternative transparency plan.
"If the legislature sends us a bill that applies FOIA equally to the legislative and executive branches, she will sign it," LaRouche said.
Public bodies from small police offices to behemoth state departments are subject to the public disclosure law used often by journalists and government watchdogs to shed light on inner workings of government. Transparency advocates routinely call on Michigan's state policymakers to expand FOIA, only for bills to face roadblocks in Lansing.
Benson and James have said they won't wait for lawmakers to take action to begin subjecting themselves to FOIA, pledging to voluntarily comply with public records requests.
James, a Republican congressman from Shelby Township who represents Macomb and Oakland County suburbs in the U.S. House of Representatives, said voters can trust he will keep his commitment. For instance, he noted that during a June interview with the Detroit Free Press Editorial Board that in Congress, he is already disclosing personal financial information.
James said, "it's very important to me that the people of the state of Michigan know that I am going to be making decisions in their best interest and my own."
Benson, a Detroit Democrat and the sitting secretary of state, similarly touted her record as evidence that she will keep her transparency promises.
"I mean we've not only expanded FOIA in our office, we actually created a portal online so that people – everyone has access to our FOIA requests," she told reporters in November 2025. She also noted that she has had to comply with FOIA throughout her career.
Both Benson and James said boosting transparency can improve trust in government.
Lisa McGraw, public policy manager for the Michigan Press Association, welcomed the gubernatorial candidates' commitment to transparency but expressed some trepidation on whether they will follow through on their promises. She joked that she could fill a thick scrapbook with politicians making similar transparency pledges. Though she noted that Benson's running mate, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, has championed legislation to expand FOIA.
Government transparency has far-reaching impacts, McGraw said. "Voters should care because they're paying these people to do things that regulate and protect their everyday life and those decisions and how they're made need to be transparent," McGraw said.
Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan's next governor makes familiar promise on transparency
