Vol. 74, No. 9, September 2001

Grassroots Program
Lawyers as legislators

by George C. Brown,
State Bar executive director

WHENEVER MY FRIENDS TALK WITH ME ABOUT the Wisconsin Legislature, they assume most of its members are lawyers. In fact, since the 1950s, the number of attorneys serving in the state Legislature has dropped by more than 50 percent. Today, only 15 of the 132 members of the Wisconsin Legislature are lawyers. By contrast, seven members of our 11-member Congressional delegation are lawyers.

In the 1950s, the Wisconsin Legislature was truly a part-time institution. Lawyers, farmers, and small businessmen made up the bulk of the Legislature. These were people who worked largely for themselves and could adjust their schedules to meet the limited calendar of the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate. Except for leadership, legislators had no office help and, in fact, no office. Their desk in the Assembly or the Senate chamber was their office.

This all changed beginning in the 1960s. Many legislatures across the country became more than limited part-time bodies, though some, like Texas, still meet on a very limited basis today. By the 1970s and into the 1980s, many lawyer-legislators found that the time requirements of the Wisconsin Legislature severely constrained their law practices. The Legislature, while still technically part-time, was becoming a full-time job. Today, not surprisingly, more than 50 of the 132 members of the state Legislature have spent nearly their entire working lives in the state Legislature.

In the Wisconsin Assembly, only 10 of the 99 members are attorneys. Republicans are the majority party, and only two of these 10 lawyers are Republicans: Reps. Glenn Grothman (West Bend) and Mark Gundrum (New Berlin). The other eight are Democrats: Reps. Pedro Colón (Milwaukee), David Cullen (Milwaukee), Tom Hebl (Sun Prairie), Greg Huber (Wausau), Mary Hubler (Rice Lake), Jon Richards (Milwaukee), Gary Sherman (Port Wing), and Tony Staskunas (West Allis). Rep. Sherman, as many will recall, also is a past president of the State Bar.

Four Assembly committees deal directly with the legal system: Corrections and the Courts, Criminal Justice, Family Law, and the Judiciary committees. Only the Judiciary Committee is chaired by a lawyer, Rep. Gundrum, and has a majority (five of eight) of members who are attorneys. Courts and Corrections has only one attorney out of 10 members, Criminal Justice has only four attorneys out of 14 members (though Rep. Gundrum serves as vice chair), and Family Law has no attorneys serving on it. Rep. Grothman serves as Assembly cochair of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.

In the State Senate, five of the 33 senators are lawyers. Only one of the lawyers is a Republican, Sen. Joanne Huelsman (Waukesha). Democrats are the majority party in the Senate, and four of the five lawyers are Democrats: Sens. Brian Burke (Milwaukee), Chuck Chvala (Madison), Gary George (Milwaukee), and Fred Risser (Madison). Each of these four hold leadership positions this term. Sen. Chvala is the majority leader, Sen. Risser is president, Sen. George is president pro tempore and chairs the Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Burke is the Senate cochair of the Joint Committee on Finance.

So what is the point? Your voice is absolutely necessary to the legislative process. With only about 11 percent of Wisconsin legislators being attorneys, there are fewer people making our laws who have the responsibility and experience of dealing with those laws every day. That makes your involvement in the legislative process, especially through the State Bar's grassroots program, all the more important. For information on how you can become involved in the grassroots program, the Lawyers Legislative Action Network, contact Jenny Boese at (800) 444-9404, ext. 6045, (608) 250-6045, or jboese@wisbar.org.

In addition, a year from this month is the primary for the 2002 elections. If you have thought about running for office, now is the time to begin.