Seat of Power
ENVISION Magazine, 2006
Their legendary debates created some of Wisconsin’s landmark laws, laws that affect everyday life. They are members of the “Whitewater Mafia” who hustle behind the scenes managing legislation, lawmakers, agencies and specialinterest groups.
They are graduates of UW-Whitewater’s political science department who have become political players, policy professionals and constituent caregivers at every level of government.
The Ambassador and the leader: Tom Loftus ’70 and Tim Cullen ’66
Tom Loftus and Tim Cullen are two UW-Whitewater graduates who were key players in the Legislature when some of Wisconsin’s most crucial laws were crafted in the 1970s and 1980s. Laws such as no-fault divorce and marital property reform, the Family Leave Law, the Fair Employment Law and a host of environmental protections, to name a few.
“What seems today as having always been there, that’s what we fought about,” recalled Loftus of Sun Prairie. He was Wisconsin’s longest-serving Assembly speaker, and he later was U.S. Ambassador to Norway in the Clinton administration. Loftus was first elected to the Assembly in 1976 and was speaker from 1983 to 1991.
“Most of my colleagues went into working in the Legislature with a stomachache, and left with a stomachache and a headache.
“It was just hell. It was a heavy time to be in the Legislature,” said Loftus, who also worked for the United Nations’ World Health Organization before returning to Wisconsin last year. Gov. Jim Doyle appointed him to the UW System Board of Regents in 2005.
Loftus’ political and policy partner for some of those years was Cullen, a former Senate majority leader from Janesville. Cullen served in Gov. Tommy Thompson’s Cabinet and was district ombudsman for the state’s late Congressman Les Aspin. Cullen was first elected to the Senate in 1974 and was the Democratic leader from 1982 through 1986. Today, he also works for WellPoint, a large health benefits company.
“Going to work was pure satisfaction,” he said of his days as majority leader. “Mondays were as much fun as Saturdays.”
Pure satisfaction, inspiring and life altering are some of the ways Loftus and Cullen describe their time at UW-Whitewater.
For Loftus, it was a group of professors who saw something in him – the second time he returned to campus. “I spent two glorious years there and flunked out,” Loftus said of his 1963-65 run on campus. Loftus was drafted in 1965 and learned the consequence of not being in college. “You were in or you were in the Army,” he said.
After serving for two years at Fort Bliss, Loftus returned to UW-Whitewater and became a serious student. “A couple of members of the faculty told me to leave. They said, ‘Go to Madison.’”
So Loftus enrolled at both UW institutions. “Whitewater was an incredibly good place to be. It was a hotbed of anti-war activity.”
He completed his undergraduate degree from UW-Whitewater in 1970 and his graduate degree at Madison in 1971.
“These professors at Whitewater always kept up with me, kept track of me,” Loftus said, noting in particular Professor John Oh, who recently retired. “When I got into state politics, all of these professors at Whitewater and Madison were just there.
“They stuck with me for 30 years in politics,” Loftus said. “So I owe the university a lot – both schools.”
Cullen, like Loftus, was the first in his family to go to college and he was torn between whether to study history or politics. “But then I met this great young group of political science professors… including Gaylon Greenhill, who went on to be the chancellor. Nobody could have had more fun than I did. I just loved it.”
But the greatest gift Cullen said he received from his political science professors was confidence. “Here I was, this kid coming from Janesville,” said Cullen, who also was on the Janesville City Council. “And I had these professors that actually cared about me. They really, actually, were interested in me.”
It was this self-confidence that propelled him into politics.
Three years ago, Cullen and his wife, Barbara, created The Tim Cullen Government Intern Program, a six-week crash course in government for four high school juniors from Janesville. The interns are paid, and an instructor is in charge. The interns go to all levels of government, meeting and learning from officials. Cullen says his minimum expectation is that the interns will always be good citizens, vote and care about their communities. “My greatest hope is some of them may pick politics as a career.”
And his greatest personal thrill is watching how the interns’ confi dence grows from the first week to the sixth week – just as his did with a little help from his professors.
The Independent: Rep. Steve Nass ‘78
On the wall in Steve Nass’ Capitol office is the Norman Rockwell painting “Freedom of Speech.” A man resembling Abraham Lincoln is standing among a crowd at what could be a town meeting.
“It’s the inner Steve,” said Nass, the conservative Republican who has represented his hometown of Whitewater and the 31st Assembly District since 1990. He isn’t afraid to challenge the status quo.
“I’ve always, even among my colleagues, I guess been a black sheep once in a while. But that’s OK because I sleep better at home when my head hits the pillow,” said Nass, whose perfect posture and determined gait scream military before you even know about his 33 years in the Air National Guard.
His independence has irked his fellow Republicans more than once when he refused to be what he called a team player and vote for proposals he believed were just plain wrong.
“I like a good fight. There are very few people here that will, in some of these instances, lead the charge,” Nass said. “Once I raise a concern on an issue, I notice others will start to follow. They don’t want to be the first ones to take a bullet.”
Nass never intended to go to college.
“Before I headed out for boot camp, I decided when I get back I’m going to college,” he said. “Don’t know why. I’d have to ask a shrink.”
After basic training, Nass entered UW-Whitewater. “I changed my major three times – the third time was political science.”
Political science became his path in his sophomore year. But taking the time to determine his focus is what Nass said is the strength of UW-Whitewater. “You do get an exposure,” he said.
Nass was an intern for now-Senate President Al Lasee of De Pere. And Nass said his office has been a landing spot for more than one UW-Whitewater intern. Interns are put through a government boot camp of sorts so they understand public service, Nass said. He must be doing something right, he said, because many of his interns have been snatched for service with Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Janesville.
“Everything in government, for the most part, is in the civilian world, too,” he said. “It’s been rewarding. I didn’t know I was going to end up here.” – Joanne M. Haas