Ringside Seat by Tim Cullen
A candid and insightful book covering the last 45 years of Wisconsin politics. RINGSIDE SEAT: Wisconsin Politics 1970 to Scott Walker takes a look at not only at the Act 10 episode but also Cullen's upbringing, how he came into public service, the two eras he served in the State Senate, the changes that occurred between these two time periods and the observations he made from his ringside seat. .part memoir, part attempt to be a political-instruction manual, part history of nearly half a century of Wisconsin politics, part critique of politics today and part critique of the Walker governorship. This book is also an effort to tell the true story of Wisconsin values which are more important than any one person or any one governor. Ringside Seat has chapters on the nature of politics, then and now; Act 10 and the true story on the Illinois episode; how gerrymandering has severely affected democracy in Wisconsin; the manipulation of the facts on the mining issue in northern Wisconsin; and, in Scott Walker's own words, the dropping of bombs on Wisconsin such as the attack on the University of Wisconsin System including the ill-fated effort to eliminate the commitment the UW-Madison has had to the pursuit of truth since 1892, the Voter Suppression I.D. law, the refusal to grant any pardons (unlike his predecessors), leading the effort to eliminate the Government Accountability Board, orchestrating the attempt to gut Wisconsin's Open Records statute, and trying vigorously to replace Wisconsin's civil service system with a return to political patronage. The list of other bombs could go on for much longer.Tim Cullen was born and reared in the Wisconsin town of Janesville. Cullen earned a bachelor's degree in political science with a minor in history from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. His family has worked for General Motors for three generations. In the 1960s, he worked there for four summers to help pay for his college education. As a state senator representing Janesville, he was actively interested in aiding GM and the UAW.
In 2008, Governor Jim Doyle named him to co-chair a working team to salvage the plant. He's had a lifelong relationship with the plant. In 1970, he was elected to the Janesville City Council for the first time. Cullen was elected to the State Senate four years later, at the age of 30.
He went on to become Senate Majority Leader and, under Governor Tommy Thompson, Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services in 1987. Cullen joined Blue Cross in 1988 and stayed with them for the next 20 years. He opted to run for his previous Senate seat in 2010. He was elected and remained in office until 2015.
Cullen continues to live in Janesville and devotes his time to the three institutions he founded. He is also the chair of Common Cause-Wisconsin's board of directors. Cullen has pledged to contribute all book earnings to the Janesville Multicultural Teachers Opportunity Fund, which he founded in 2008. The Fund's main mission is to raise funds for college scholarships for African-American students in Janesville.
The purpose is to assist students who want to become teachers and are willing to teach for at least three years in Janesville.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781942586104 |
| ISBN 10 | 1942586108 |
| Title | Ringside Seat |
| Author | Tim Cullen |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Little Creek Press |
| Year published | 2015-12-07 |
| Number of pages | 260 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |