80th Wisconsin Legislature

The Eightieth Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 4, 1971, to January 1, 1973, in regular session, and also convened in a special session in April 1972.^[1]

80th Wisconsin Legislature
← 79th 81st →
Wisconsin State Capitol
Overview
Legislative body	Wisconsin Legislature
Meeting place	Wisconsin State Capitol
Term	January 4, 1971 – January 1, 1973
Election	November 3, 1970
Senate
Members	33
Senate President	Martin J. Schreiber (D)
President pro tempore	Robert P. Knowles (R)
Party control	Republican
Assembly
Members	100
Assembly Speaker	Robert T. Huber (D) (res. Dec. 13, 1971) Norman C. Anderson (D) (from Dec. 17, 1971)
Speaker pro tempore	Joseph Sweda (D)
Party control	Democratic
Sessions
Regular January 4, 1971 – January 1, 1973
Special sessions
Apr. 1972 Spec. April 19, 1972 – April 28, 1972

The April 1972 special session was called to come to a final agreement on a pivotal redistricting plan, which eliminated an Assembly district and broke the longstanding precedent of adhering to county boundaries.

Senators representing odd-numbered districts were newly elected for this session and were serving the first two years of a four-year term. Assembly members were elected to a two-year term. Assembly members and odd-numbered senators were elected in the general election of November 3, 1970. Senators representing even-numbered districts were serving the third and fourth year of a four-year term, having been elected in the general election of November 5, 1968.^[1]

Major events

• January 4, 1971: Inauguration of Patrick Lucey as the 38th Governor of Wisconsin.
• March 1, 1971: A bomb exploded in a restroom in the United States Capitol, the Weather Underground claimed responsibility.
• April 30, 1971: The Milwaukee Bucks won the 1971 NBA Finals.
• May 3, 1971: The 1971 May Day protests against the Vietnam War began in Washington, D.C., attempting to disrupt government operations. Over 12,000 were arrested.
• July 1, 1971: The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution came into force when a sufficient number of states ratified.
• August 15, 1971: In what's known as the Nixon shock, U.S. President Richard Nixon signed Executive Order 11615, ending the convertibility of the U.S. dollar to gold at a fixed value. The order also imposed a 90-day freeze on wages, prices, and rents.
• December 13, 1971: Wisconsin Assembly speaker Robert T. Huber resigned his seat in the legislature to become chair of the state highway commission.
• April 4, 1972: 1972 Wisconsin Spring election:
  • Wisconsin voters ratified four amendments to the state constitution:
    • Allowing the legislature to create alternative systems of county government.
    • Allowing counties the option to retain the office of coroner or replace it with a medical examiner.
    • Allowing public school buildings to be utilized for civic, religious, or charitable events during non-school hours.
    • Allowing public school students to receive separate religious instruction outside of public school facilities during school hours.
• June 17, 1972: Five Nixon campaign operatives were arrested trying to break into the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate in Washington, D.C.
• November 7, 1972:
  • Richard Nixon (R) re-elected President of the United States.

Major legislation

• November 19, 1971: An Act ... relating to redistricting this state pursuant to the congressional apportionment based on the 1970 census of population, 1971 Act 133.
• May 8, 1972: An Act ... relating to districting the senate and assembly based on the number of inhabitants shown by the certified results of the 1970 census of population, 1971 Act 304.

Party summary

Senate summary

Senate partisan composition

  Democratic: 13 seats

  Republican: 20 seats

	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)		Total
	Dem.	Rep.		Vacant
End of previous Legislature	11	21	32	1
Start of Reg. Session[note 1]	12	20	32	1
From May 4, 1971[note 2]	13		33	0
Final voting share	39.39%	60.61%
Beginning of the next Legislature	15	18	33	0

Assembly summary

Assembly partisan composition

  Democratic: 66 seats

  Republican: 34 seats

	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total
	Dem.	Ind.	Rep.		Vacant
End of previous Legislature	48	1	51	100	0
Start of Reg. Session	67	0	33	100	0
From Jan. 19, 1971[note 3]	66			99	1
From Apr. 13, 1971[note 4]			34	100	0
From May 4, 1971[note 5]	65			99	1
From Sep. 20, 1971[note 6]	66			100	0
From Dec. 13, 1971[note 7]	65			99	1
From Apr. 19, 1972[note 8]	66			100	0
Final voting share	66%	34%
Beginning of the next Legislature	62	0	37	99	0

Sessions

• Regular session: January 4, 1971 – January 1, 1973
• April 1972 special session: April 19, 1972 – April 28, 1972

Leaders

Senate leadership

• President of the Senate: Martin J. Schreiber (D)
• President pro tempore: Robert P. Knowles (R–New Richmond)
• Majority leader: Ernest Keppler (R–Sheboygan)
• Minority leader: Fred Risser (D–Madison)

Assembly leadership

• Speaker of the Assembly: Robert T. Huber (D–West Allis) (until Dec. 13, 1971)
  • Norman C. Anderson (D–Madison) (from Dec. 17, 1971)
• Speaker pro tempore: Joseph Sweda (D–Lublin)
• Majority leader: Norman C. Anderson (D–Madison) (until Dec. 17, 1971)
  • Tony Earl (D–Wausau) (from Dec. 17, 1971)
• Minority leader: Harold V. Froehlich (R–Appleton)

Members

Members of the Senate

Members of the Senate for the Eightieth Wisconsin Legislature:^[2]

Senate partisan representation

  Democratic: 13 seats

  Republican: 20 seats

Dist.	Counties	Senator	Residence	Party
01	Door, Kewaunee, & Manitowoc	Jerome Martin	Whitelaw	Dem.
02	Southern Brown & Calumet	Myron P. Lotto	Green Bay	Rep.
03	Milwaukee (Southwest City)	Casimir Kendziorski	Milwaukee	Dem.
04	Milwaukee (North County)	Nile Soik	Milwaukee	Rep.
05	Milwaukee (Northwest City)	Wilfred Schuele	Milwaukee	Dem.
06	Milwaukee (North City)	--Vacant until May 4, 1971--
		Mark Lipscomb Jr. (from May 4, 1971)	Milwaukee	Dem.
07	Milwaukee (Southeast County & Southeast City)	Kurt Frank	Milwaukee	Dem.
08	Milwaukee (Western County)	Allen Busby	West Milwaukee	Rep.
09	Milwaukee (City Downtown)	Ronald G. Parys	Milwaukee	Dem.
10	Buffalo, Burnett, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, & St. Croix	Robert P. Knowles	New Richmond	Rep.
11	Milwaukee (Western City)	Wayne F. Whittow	Milwaukee	Dem.
12	Clark, Forest, Lincoln, Oneida, Taylor, & Vilas	Clifford Krueger	Merrill	Rep.
13	Eastern Dodge, Jefferson, & Washington	Dale McKenna	Jefferson	Dem.
14	Outagamie & Waupaca	Gerald Lorge	Bear Creek	Rep.
15	Eastern Rock & Walworth	James D. Swan	Elkhorn	Rep.
16	Most of Dane & Western Rock	Carl W. Thompson	Stoughton	Dem.
17	Grant, Green, Iowa, Lafayette, & Richland	Gordon Roseleip	Darlington	Rep.
18	Fond du Lac & Western Dodge	Walter G. Hollander	Rosendale	Rep.
19	Winnebago	Jack D. Steinhilber	Oshkosh	Rep.
20	Ozaukee & Sheboygan	Ernest Keppler	Sheboygan	Rep.
21	Racine (City & Southeast County)	Henry Dorman	Racine	Dem.
22	Kenosha	Joseph Lourigan	Kenosha	Dem.
23	Barron, Chippewa, Dunn, & Washburn	Bruce Peloquin	Chippewa Falls	Dem.
24	Green Lake, Portage, Waushara, & Wood	Raymond F. Heinzen	Marshfield	Rep.
25	Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, Iron, Price, Rusk, & Sawyer	Arthur Cirilli	Superior	Rep.
26	Dane (Madison)	Fred Risser	Madison	Dem.
27	Adams, Columbia, Juneau, Marquette, & Sauk	Everett Bidwell	Portage	Rep.
28	Southwest Milwaukee, Most of Racine, & Southern Waukesha	James Devitt	Greenfield	Rep.
29	Marathon, Menominee, & Shawano	Walter Chilsen	Wausau	Rep.
30	Northern Brown, Florence, Langlade, Marinette, & Oconto	Reuben La Fave	Oconto	Rep.
31	Eau Claire, Jackson, Monroe, & Trempealeau	Raymond C. Johnson	Eau Claire	Rep.
32	Crawford, La Crosse, & Vernon	Milo Knutson	La Crosse	Rep.
33	Waukesha (Northern half)	Roger P. Murphy	Waukesha	Rep.

Members of the Assembly

Members of the Assembly for the Eightieth Wisconsin Legislature:^[2]

Assembly partisan composition

  Democratic: 66 seats

  Republican: 34 seats

Milwaukee County districts

Senate Dist.	County	Dist.	Representative	Party	Residence
27	Adams, Juneau, & Marquette		Tommy Thompson	Rep.	Elroy
25	Ashland, Bayfield, & Iron		Ernest J. Korpela	Dem.	Washburn
23	Barron & Washburn		Kenneth M. Schricker	Rep.	Spooner
02	Brown	1	Jerome Quinn	Rep.	Green Bay
		2	Lawrence J. Kafka	Rep.	New Denmark
		3	Cletus J. Vanderperren	Dem.	Green Bay
10	Buffalo, Pepin, & Pierce		Michael P. Early	Dem.	River Falls
	Burnett & Polk		Harvey L. Dueholm	Dem.	Luck
02	Calumet		Gervase Hephner	Dem.	Chilton
23	Chippewa		Terry A. Willkom	Dem.	Chippewa Falls
12	Clark		Eugene Oberle	Dem.	Stanley
27	Columbia		Robert M. Thompson	Dem.	Poynette
32	Crawford & Vernon		Bernard Lewison	Rep.	Viroqua
26	Dane	1	Norman C. Anderson	Dem.	Madison
		2	Edward Nager	Dem.	Madison
		3	Midge Miller	Dem.	Madison
16		4	Harland E. Everson	Dem.	Sun Prairie
		5	David D. O'Malley	Dem.	Waunakee
13	Dodge	1	Esther Doughty Luckhardt	Rep.	Horicon
18		2	Thomas S. Hanson	Dem.	Beaver Dam
01	Door & Kewaunee		Lary J. Swoboda	Dem.	Luxemburg
25	Douglas		Edward Stack	Dem.	Superior
23	Dunn		Alvin Baldus	Dem.	Menomonie
31	Eau Claire	1	Joseph Looby	Dem.	Eau Claire
		2	Louis V. Mato	Dem.	Fairchild
30	Florence & Marinette		William LaFave	Rep.	Peshtigo
18	Fond du Lac	1	Earl F. McEssy	Rep.	Fond du Lac
		2	William S. Schwefel	Rep.	Oakfield
12	Forest, Oneida, & Vilas		Ellsworth K. Gaulke	Dem.	Lac du Flambeau
17	Grant		James N. Azim Jr.	Rep.	Muscoda
	Green & Lafayette		Joseph E. Tregoning	Rep.	Shullsburg
24	Green Lake & Waushara		Jon P. Wilcox	Rep.	Wautoma
17	Iowa & Richland		Joanne M. Duren	Dem.	Cazenovia
31	Jackson & Trempealeau		John Q. Radcliffe (res. Jan. 19, 1971)	Dem.	Strum
			Alan S. Robertson (from Apr. 13, 1971)	Rep.	Blair
13	Jefferson		Byron F. Wackett	Rep.	Watertown
22	Kenosha	1	George Molinaro	Dem.	Kenosha
		2	Eugene Dorff	Dem.	Kenosha
32	La Crosse	1	Gerald Greider	Rep.	La Crosse
		2	Virgil Roberts	Dem.	Holmen
30	Langlade & Oconto		Milton McDougal	Rep.	Oconto Falls
12	Lincoln & Taylor		Joseph Sweda	Dem.	Lublin
01	Manitowoc	1	Donald K. Helgeson	Rep.	Manitowoc
		2	Everett E. Bolle	Dem.	Two Rivers
29	Marathon	1	Laurence J. Day	Dem.	Athens
		2	Tony Earl	Dem.	Wausau
	Menominee & Shawano		Herbert J. Grover	Dem.	Shawano
06	Milwaukee	1	Mark Lipscomb Jr. (res. May 4, 1971)	Dem.	Milwaukee
			Gus Menos (from Sep. 20, 1971)	Dem.	Milwaukee
05		2	Joseph E. Jones	Dem.	Milwaukee
04		3	Dennis Conta	Dem.	Milwaukee
09		4	Harout O. Sanasarian	Dem.	Milwaukee
06		5	Paul Sicula	Dem.	Milwaukee
09		6	Lloyd Barbee	Dem.	Milwaukee
06		7	William A. Johnson	Dem.	Milwaukee
11		8	Joseph Czerwinski	Dem.	Milwaukee
05		9	Robert L. Jackson Jr.	Dem.	Milwaukee
11		10	Fred Kessler	Dem.	Milwaukee
03		11	Raymond J. Tobiasz	Dem.	Milwaukee
		12	Sam L. Orlich	Dem.	Milwaukee
09		13	Glenn E. Bultman	Dem.	Milwaukee
03		14	Jerry Kleczka	Dem.	Milwaukee
05		15	James W. Wahner	Dem.	Milwaukee
11		16	Richard E. Pabst	Dem.	Milwaukee
07		17	John E. McCormick	Dem.	Milwaukee
04		18	David G. Berger	Dem.	Milwaukee
07		19	Daniel D. Hanna	Dem.	Milwaukee
08		20	George Klicka	Rep.	Wauwatosa
		21	James J. Lynn	Dem.	West Allis
		22	Robert T. Huber (res. Dec. 13, 1971)	Dem.	West Allis
			Gary J. Barczak (from Apr. 19, 1972)	Dem.	West Allis
28		23	James A. Rutkowski	Dem.	Hales Corners
07		24	William P. Atkinson	Dem.	South Milwaukee
04		25	Jim Sensenbrenner	Rep.	Shorewood
31	Monroe		Robert Quackenbush	Rep.	Sparta
14	Outagamie	1	Harold V. Froehlich	Rep.	Appleton
		2	William J. Rogers	Dem.	Kaukauna
		3	Ervin Conradt	Rep.	Shiocton
20	Ozaukee		Herbert Schowalter	Rep.	Saukville
24	Portage		Leonard A. Groshek	Dem.	Stevens Point
25	Price, Rusk & Sawyer		John W. Slaby	Dem.	Phillips
21	Racine	1	R. Michael Ferrall	Dem.	Racine
		2	Manny S. Brown	Dem.	Racine
28		3	Merrill E. Stalbaum	Rep.	Waterford
15	Rock	1	Lewis T. Mittness	Dem.	Janesville
16		2	Janet Soergel Mielke	Dem.	Milton
15		3	Gary K. Johnson	Dem.	Beloit
27	Sauk		Kenyon E. Giese	Rep.	Sauk City
20	Sheboygan	1	Carl Otte	Dem.	Sheboygan
		2	Vernon R. Boeckmann	Dem.	Plymouth
10	St. Croix		Leo Mohn	Dem.	Woodville
22	Walworth		Clarence J. Wilger	Rep.	Elkhorn
13	Washington		Frederick C. Schroeder	Rep.	West Bend
33	Waukesha	1	Kenneth Merkel	Rep.	Brookfield
		2	John M. Alberts	Rep.	Oconomowoc
		3	Edward Jackamonis	Dem.	Waukesha
28		4	John C. Shabaz	Rep.	New Berlin
14	Waupaca		Francis R. Byers	Rep.	Waupaca
19	Winnebago	1	Jon R. Guiles	Rep.	Oshkosh
		2	Gordon R. Bradley	Rep.	Oshkosh
		3	Michael G. Ellis	Rep.	Neenah
24	Wood	1	John Oestreicher	Dem.	Marshfield
		2	Marlin Schneider	Dem.	Wisconsin Rapids

Employees

Senate employees

• Chief Clerk: William P. Nugent^[2]
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Kenneth Nicholson

Assembly employees

• Chief Clerk: Thomas P. Fox^[2]
• Sergeant-at-Arms: William F. Quick

Notes

1. Democrat Martin J. Schreiber (6th District) resigned before the start of the session due to his election as Lieutenant Governor.
2. Democrat Mark Lipscomb Jr. (6th District) was sworn in to replace Martin J. Schreiber.
3. Democrat John Q. Radcliffe (Jackson & Trempealeau counties) resigned to accept appointment to the state highway commission.
4. Republican Alan S. Robertson (Jackson & Trempealeau counties) was sworn in to replace John Q. Radcliffe.
5. Democrat Mark Lipscomb Jr. (Milwaukee County) resigned to take office in the state senate.
6. Democrat Gus Menos (Milwaukee County) sworn in to replace Mark Lipscomb Jr.
7. Democratic speaker Robert T. Huber (Milwaukee County) resigned to accept appointment to the state highway commission.
8. Democrat Gary J. Barczak (Milwaukee County) was sworn in to replace Robert T. Huber.

References

1. Barish, Lawrence S.; Lemanski, Lynn, eds. (2021). "Historical Lists" (PDF). State of Wisconsin Blue Book 2021–2022 (Report). Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. pp. 468, 471, 475, 479–480. ISBN 978-1-7333817-1-0. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
2. "Biographies". The State of Wisconsin 1971 Blue Book (Report). Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. 1971. pp. 20–68. Retrieved November 2, 2023.

External links

• 1971: Related Documents from Wisconsin Legislature