Kalamazoo Times

Political strategist and former Kalamazoo resident Jason Roe said that District 42 Democratic State Representative candidate Austin Marsman's poor performance as a local government employee renders him unfit to serve in political office. 

"Austin Marsman isn’t capable of holding an administrative job in local government and now thinks he should be setting policy for all Michiganders?" Roe said. "When government bureaucrats don’t think he’s capable of a ministerial job, why would voters want him for an important job? He’s just not qualified or capable and should not be entrusted with this level of responsibility." 

Marsman was an official document specialist in the office of the Kalamazoo County Clerk and Register of Deeds in 2021 and early 2022. This prior position is not included on his campaign website, campaign Facebook page, or in a May 31, 2024, opinion piece for The 'Gander. His LinkedIn page also omits that position.

According to county personnel records, Marsman agreed to resign his position in February of 2022 "in lieu of termination" after multiple disciplinary incidents. 

On September 4, 2021, Marsman received a written notice from Chief Deputy Clerk and Register of Deeds Elizabeth Byrd concerning a series of incidents in which he had failed to process death record requests or properly log death records in the system. Additionally, the notice stated that, at that time, Marsman currently had 28 missing record scans.

On September 8, 2021, Byrd sent Marsman a performance improvement plan (PIP) detailing a number of issues related to Marsman's job performance. These issues included sending death certificates to the wrong funeral homes and improperly logging and managing death certificates and other vital records, and attempting to correct errors using administrative privileges without first communicating with and receiving permission from supervisors. 

"You and I have had a conversation in the past about personal responsibility," Bryd wrote to Marsman. "Mistakes happen; however, hiding one’s mistakes and making excuses rather that owning up to it makes it hard to trust you." Byrd continued to say that the staff was "taken by surprise because [Marsman] failed to communicate the error and tried to fix it [him]self to avoid detection."

Austin Marsman is the Democratic candidate for the Michigan State House’s 42nd District seat. According to his campaign website, he is currently the Youth Vice Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party as well as First Vice Chair of the Allegan County Democratic Party. Marsman is challenging incumbent Republican Matt Hall. The general election will be held on November 5, and the early voting period lasts from October 26 to November 3.