Michigan Auditor General


The Michigan Auditor General is the chief fiscal officer of the State of Michigan. The Office of the Auditor General was established in 1836 and, with changes to the Michigan Constitution in 1963, has become the independent oversight arm of the Legislature. The first Michigan Auditor General was Robert Abbott. The first Republican in office was Emil Anneke, an active abolitionist, Forty-Eighter of German Origin and younger brother of U.S. colonel and German 1849 revolutionary leader Fritz Anneke. In 1959, lawyer and NAACP activist Otis M. Smith was elected Michigan Auditor General, as one of the first African Americans to serve in a senior state government office.
The current Michigan Auditor General, Doug A. Ringler, C.P.A, C.I.A, was appointed by the Michigan Legislature effective June 9, 2014.

List of Michigan Auditors General since 1836

NameTermParty
Robert Abbott1836–1839Democratic
Henry Howard1839–1840
Eurotas P. Hastings1840–1842
Alpheus Felch1842Democratic
Henry L. Whipple1842
Charles G. Hammond1842–1845
John J. Adam1845–1846Democratic
Digby V. Bell1846–1848
John J. Adam1848–1850Democratic
John Swegles, Jr.1851–1854
Whitney Jones1855–1858
Daniel L. Case1859–1860
Langford G. Berry1861–1862
Emil Anneke1863–1866Republican
William Humphrey1867–1874
Ralph Ely1875–1878
W. Irving Latimer1879–1882Republican
William C. Stevens1883–1886Republican
Henry H. Aplin1887–1890Republican
George W. Stone1891–1892
Stanley W. Turner1893–1896
Roscoe D. Dix1897-1900Republican
Perry F. Powers1901–1904
James B. Bradley1905–1908Republican
Oramel B. Fuller1909–1932Republican
John K. Stack, Jr.1933–1935Democratic
John J. O'Hara1935–1936
George T. Gundry1937–1938
Vernon J. Brown1939–1944Republican
John D. Morrison1945–1946
Murl K. Aten1947–1950Republican
John B. Martin, Jr.1951–1954
Victor Targonski1955–1956
Frank S. Szymanski1956–1959
William R. Hart1959
Otis M. Smith1959–1961
William A. Burgett1961
Billie S. Farnum1961–1964
Allison Green1965
Albert Lee1965–1982
Franklin C. Pinkelman1982–1989
Charles S. Jones1989
Thomas H. McTavish1989–2014
Doug A. Ringler2014–present