Jocelyn Benson
| Jocelyn F. Benson | |
 | |
| Candidate for Michigan Secretary of State | |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Profession | Associate Law Professor |
| Website | Jocelyn Benson for Secretary of State Campaign website |
Contents |
Education
- Bachelor's degree, Wellesley College (magna cum laude)
- Master's degree in sociology, Magdalen College in Oxford
- Juris Doctorate degree, Harvard University Law School
Professional experience
In the midst of studying for her bachelor's degree at Wellesley College, Benson founded the now-annual Women in American Political Activism conference and was the first student ever to be elected to serve in the governing body for the town of Wellesley, Massachusetts. She was given opportunities following graduation to work as a summer associate for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund as well as serving as a legal assistant to American legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg at National Public Radio (NPR). Prior to graduating from law school, Benson worked as general editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, a legal scholarship publication.
Benson has served as a law clerk to the Honorable Damon J. Keith, a justice for the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She was hired by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 2004 to develop the first nationwide Election Protection program, which gave the authority to select, recruit, and train Voter Protection coordinators in twenty-one states and to deploy over 17,000 trained election law attorneys in the midst of the 2004 presidential election. Benson developed and pushed for nonpartisan election protection efforts on behalf of the Michigan Democratic Party from 2006 to 2008. In her testimony before the United States House Judiciary Committee in the wake of the 2008 presidential election, she called upon Republican Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land to ban the use of foreclosure lists as a means to challenge a voter's eligibility on Election Day.
She was named as an Associate Law Professor at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, Michigan where she teaches Election Law, Sports and Inequality, Race and the Law, Education Law, and Civil Procedure. She was also appointed as a member of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Election Law.
Controversies
Secretary of State Project
- See also: Secretary of State Project
Benson has received both the endorsement and financial assistance of the Secretary of State Project (SOS Project), a below-the-radar 527 political organization whose purpose is to "wrestling control of the country from the Republican Party" through the process of "removing their political operatives from deciding who can vote and whose votes will count," namely the office of Secretary of State in many cases. [2] [3] The SOS Project receives its funding from the George Soros-backed Democracy Alliance. [4]
Southern Poverty Law Center
Prior to entering law school, Benson lived in Montgomery, Alabama and worked for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a public-interest law firm founded in 1971 by civil rights activists Morris Dees and Joe Levin, that monitors organized "hate" activity across the country. In addition to serious questions about the organization's finances, the SPLC has been criticized, particularly between 2008 and 2010, for designating racism and bigotry as an exclusive product of the "radical right."[5] [6] Reports published by the firm have labeled conservative think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Bradley Foundation as "hate groups" and have deemed tea party protests as seething hotbeds of bigotry and nativist extremism. [7] [8] [9]
Campaign contributions
2010
According to Follow the Money, Benson has raised $250,241 in 2010 for her secretary of state campaign as of September 29, 2010. [10]
Listed below are the top five contributors:
| Donor | Amount |
|---|---|
| Jocelyn F. Benson | $6,387 |
| Alida Messinger | $3,400 |
| Secretary of State Project | $3,250 |
| Bob McKay | $3,000 |
| Herbert Kurz | $3,000 |
Elections
2010
| 2010 Race for Attorney General - General Election [11] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote Percentage | |
| Republican Party |  Ruth Johnson
|
50.7% | |
| Democratic Party | Jocelyn Benson | 45.2% | |
| Libertarian Party | Scotty Boman | 1.8% | |
| U.S. Taxpayers | Robert Gale | 1.3% | |
| Green Party | John A. La Pietra | 1.0% | |
| Total Votes | 3,173,248 | ||
Contact information
Campaign Address:
Jocelyn Benson for Secretary of State
P.O. Box 441181
Detroit MI 48226
Phone: (517) 680-4680
Fax: (313) 557-0944
E-mail: JBenson@VoteBenson.com
External links
- Wayne State University Law School - Jocelyn Bension biography
- Jocelyn Benson for Secretary of State Campaign website
- Jocelyn Benson's Facebook profile
- Jocelyn Benson's MySpace profile
- Jocelyn Benson's Twitter account
References
- ↑ The Detroit News "WSU professor to run for Secretary of State" 5 Oct. 2009
- ↑ Secretary of State Project - 2010 Races
- ↑ American Spectator "SOS in Minnesota" 7 Nov. 2008
- ↑ Discover the Networks - Democracy Alliance
- ↑ Discovery the Networks - Southern Poverty Law Center
- ↑ Legal Insurrection "Southern Poverty Law Center Completes Its Descent Into Madness" 11 Sept. 2010
- ↑ National Review Online "Spreading the Smear" 22 April, 2010
- ↑ Hate Watch "Hate Groups and Nativist Extremists Crashing ‘Tea Parties’" 14 April, 2009
- ↑ American Thinker "Southern Poverty Law Center is less diverse than the tea parties" 8 Aug. 2010
- ↑ Follow the Money - Campaign Contributions for Jocelyn Benson, 2010
- ↑ Michigan Department of State - 2010 General Election Results
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