By John Lindstrom
Publisher
Posted: May 6, 2013 2:38 PM

Monday is the 100th birthday of Michigan’s longest-serving secretary of state Richard Austin and current Secretary of State Ruth Johnson held a commemoration for the man whose name is now also the name of Ms. Johnson’s office building.

Mr. Austin served in the post from 1971 to 1995, before being beaten by now U.S. Rep. Candice Miller (R-Harrison Twp.).

He was born May 6, 1913 in Stouts Mountain, Alabama. He graduated from the Detroit Institute of Technology in 1937. He was also the first black CPA in Michigan, and had a long business career in addition to his political involvement.

He was a Democratic delegate to the 1961-62 Constitutional Convention and Wayne County auditor in the mid-1960s.

He very nearly became Detroit’s first black mayor, losing the 1969 election to Roman Gribbs.

He won his first election to Secretary of State in 1970, succeeding who was then the longest serving secretary of state, James Hare, who held the post for 16 years. Mr. Austin remained popular throughout his tenure, winning 82 of the state’s 83 counties in the 1986 election (losing only Ottawa County).

He was unable to translate that popularity into national office, however, losing the 1976 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate to the eventual winner, former U.S. Sen. Don Riegle.

His 1994 election defeat was perhaps equally attributable to a big Republican swing that year and a terrible flub he made in a televised question-and-answer session with Ms. Miller that left many questioning whether at then 81 he could continue in the post. (He had told some reporters before the election he had thought of retiring but was prevailed on to run to give the party some more electoral oomph against former Governor John Engler who was running for re-election).

Among those slated to speak at the ceremony were a number of Mr. Austin’s former employees, including former spokesperson Liz Boyd (who became spokesperson for Ms. Miller and then for former Governor Jennifer Granholm), and Elections Director Chris Thomas.

Also on the roster of speakers was one of Mr. Austin’s closest friends, former Attorney General Frank Kelley, who called Mr. Austin one of Michigan’s greatest public servants when Mr. Austin died at 87 in 2001 and who delivered the eulogy at his funeral.

Mr. Austin had an enormous impact in terms of voting access and traffic safety. He won legislative approval to allow persons to register to vote at secretary of state branch offices (though he was never able to win approval of same-day registration for voters); and he waged a major campaign to require mandatory usage of seatbelts (a battle won, finally, when the federal government threatened to cut off funding to states that did not make that requirement).

And, for anyone old enough to remember, he changed how motorists renewed their vehicle registrations. Until he finally prevailed on the Legislature in the mid-1970s, all registrations had to be renewed no later than March and secretary of state offices were open until the evenings to accommodate the lines of drivers trying to beat the deadline.

Thanks to Mr. Austin, registrations now change on a motorist’s birthday.