Grassroots Program
Lawyers as legislators
With fewer lawyer-legislators making Wisconsin laws,
attorneys' involvement in the legislative process is a must.
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.
Wisconsin Lawyer
