Did Benson's Team Lie About Her Handbag?
They said she bought it from a store on Mackinac Island for $60, so I called every store with a listed number and none of them sold anything like it
Last month, Michigan elites met on Mackinac Island for the annual Mackinac Policy Conference. While sipping champagne and eating calamari, important things like “how tall is that guy” and “how much money has Haley Stevens taken from AIPAC” were topics of conversation while the rest of us slaved away at our jobs, wishing we could take a few days off work and live it up at the Grand Hotel.
Frontrunner for governor and current Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was there, and over the past few months she’s been caught up in multiple scandals, like being on the board of the SPLC while it was funding the KKK, having illegals on voter rolls, and multiple racial discrimination lawsuits. Each time, she and her team quickly point the finger somewhere else. Politics 101.
Preaching affordability while spending on luxury isn’t new for politicians, but this visit to Mackinac showed just how pretentious the people who run our state have become.
One X user saw an accessory Benson was carrying around, made a thread about it, and just like that, Handbag Gate was born. Michiganders rightfully were upset that Benson might be carrying a purse worth over $35,000. The median salary in Michigan is just over $48,000.
We know Benson and her husband Ryan Friedrichs have plenty of cash lying around after his supposed $70 million commission check from the Saline Township data center project, so her buying something so expensive wasn’t unrealistic.
But Benson’s team jumped into crisis PR mode and disclosed that, no, it was not a Hermès Kelly II Sellier Mini Rouge Sellier Chevre Leather Gold Hardware bag, but a $60 knockoff purchased at a small business on Mackinac Island.
When I followed up for comment and asked which store it was purchased from, neither of her press flaks responded. Do they not support small businesses? For someone as popular as Jocelyn Benson, I’m sure the handbags would fly off the shelf if they gave the store a shout out.
Democratic spokesperson Rodericka Applewhaite got in the mix too and posted that it’s “obviously not a Mini Kelly” while immediately pointing out her own investigation of a Rolex watch worn by a Republican in 2022. Politics 101.
Members of Team Benson would obviously never give up their gal, so I called every gift shop on the island with a working phone number, and checked every gift shop’s online store for a similar bag.
Nada.
One store had “a couple” small handbags, but they didn’t match the description or the $60 price point. I checked the Grand Hotel’s gift shop (not a small business by any means), and they didn’t have anything either. Heck, I even called a florist to see if they maybe sold knockoff merchandise out the back door. They hung up on me.
Even on the World Wide Web, I googled “off brand Mini Kelly II bag” and the cheapest I could find was on sale for $84. How could a small business sell such an item and resell it plus markup for $60 on Mackinac Island? The fact is, they didn’t.
With that, Handbag Gate comes to a close. I’m sure we’ll never see the bag again.
But if you do, ask to see the receipt.
