Candidate for Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, District 3

(Bridgewater, Freedom, Lodi, Manchester, Saline, Sharon, and York Townships; Cities of Milan and Saline; Village of Manchester)

Ryan Baumgart is the Founder & CEO of a small business in Saline with a degree in Intercultural Studies and a Juris Master’s degree in International Legal Studies.

As an active member of the community, Ryan is running to address the severe problems on the Washtenaw County Commission: lack of transparency, misuse of funds, overreach of elected officials, and a lack of reporting accountability. Each of these problems can be identified as extensions of a sole-party system within the Washtenaw County government. Ryan’s top priority will be to call for transparency in reports, such as those of government funding and the availability of line items that directly impact the livelihood of Washtenaw County residents.

For example, on October 18, 2023, Ryan’s opponent, Commissioner Beeman, sought to use USDA-allocated funds available for district residents to “remedy” the issue of homelessness in out-of-district communities, calling it “money on the table.” Beeman thought nothing of violating the strict conditions on the funds’ usage to misappropriate the money outside of her own district.

In another example, the Board of Commissioners heard months of public outcry against a proposed set of seven tax millages, most allocated to community mental health. The Board blatantly whitewashed the concerns, actively refused to change terms on these
county-wide tax hikes, and meanwhile offered “blank check” conditions on the use of drawn funds. The tax millages were written with unclear responsibility for the oversight of these resources.

As Commissioner, Ryan Baumgart will blow the whistle on the misuse of funds for private and partisan endeavors. Using his background, Ryan will put these practices into plain language for presentation to the public. His goal is to renew trust in elected officials, and to uphold the high standards of office that voters expect.