Meet the Legislature’s Fiscal Big Shots

Sen. Howard Marklein and Rep. Mark Born. Photo from the State of Wisconsin.

For three months every two years, the 16 members of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee are the Capitol’s fiscal princes and princesses.

Leaders of business, non-profit groups and statewide trade organizations line up to meet with them, asking for specific favors in the next two-year budget.

In March and April, the Finance Committee gets a non-partisan summary of what spending Democratic Gov. Tony Evers recommended. Last week, Republicans who control the committee voted to dump more than 600 of Evers’ budget items. In May and June, the committee is building its own spending plan, sending it to the full Legislature to hopefully meet the July 1 start of the new budget cycle.

Every spending item a committee member can insert into the budget, even a two-word change in current state law, could mean millions of dollars in favors to one special-interest group, at the expense of that group’s enemies.

That’s why party leaders sometimes assign Finance Committee members “budget buddies” – lawmakers not on the committee who can ask their committee “buddy” to push the budget changes they want.

Sure, both the full Senate and Assembly can change what the Finance Committee recommends, but 95% of the committee’s least controversial recommendations usually become law.

All this explains why it’s not easy to get on the Finance Committee; legislative leaders put their most loyal members on it.

Who are 12 Republicans and four Democrats, including 12 men and four women, who serve on the Finance Committee? Five of the 16 are new members.

Committee cochairs Sen. Howard Marklein, of Spring Green, and Rep. Mark Born, of Beaver Dam, will again lead the panel.

Marklein, 70, has served in the Legislature since 2011 and the Senate since 2014. His official biography says the accountant is a “retired certified fraud investigator.”

Born, 49, has served in the Assembly since 2013. His biography says that, before he became a full-time legislator, he worked as a “corrections supervisor” for the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department.

Finance Committee vice chairs are Sen. Patrick Testin, of Stevens Point, and Rep. Tony Kurtz, of Wonewoc.

Testin, 36, was re-elected for a third term last year after losing a statewide primary for lieutenant governor in 2022. His official biography says he worked in sales for a “Wisconsin-based wine distributor.”

Kurtz, 58, an Assembly member since 2019, has an intriguing biography: “Organic grain farmer. Former U.S. Army attack helicopter pilot 1985–2005, retired from active duty … Persian Gulf War veteran; Iraq War veteran.”

Republican Sen. Eric Wimberger, 46, of Oconto, is an attorney and another Finance Committee veteran. He won a second term last year.

Three Assembly Republicans return to the Finance Committee: Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, 53, of River Falls, is a small business owner who has served in the Assembly since 2017. Rep. Jessie Rodriguez, 47, Oak Creek, has been an Assembly member since she won a special 2013 election and formerly led a non-profit. Rep. Alex Dallman, 32 of Markesan, has served in the Assembly since 2021 and his biography says he is a former Congressional aide and “licensed basketball official.”

Two Assembly members are new committee members: Republican Karen Hurd, 67, of Thorp, who owns a nutrition business, and Democrat Deb Andraca, 55, of Whitefish Bay, a former teacher and lobbyist.

Three Republican senators are new to the budget panel:

Sen. Rob Stafsholt, 49, of New Richmond, a small business owner, won a second Senate term last November.

Sen. Julian Bradley, 44, of New Berlin, won a second term last November and is the first black Republican to serve in the Wisconsin Senate. His biography says he was a “former realtor and operations manager for Northwestern Mutual and CenturyLink [and] professional wrestler.”

Sen. Romaine Quinn, 34, of Birchwood, served in the Assembly before his 2022 Senate election. A former Rice Lake mayor, his biography says he worked as a  “former Coca-Cola salesman.”

Senate Democrats again on the committee are Sen. LaTonya Johnson, 52, of Milwaukee, a former child care provider and senator since 2017 and Kelda Roys, 45, of Madison, a former Assembly member who won a second Senate term last year. She is an attorney and small business owner.

The fourth Democrat on the panel is Rep. Tip McGuire, 37, of Kenosha, an attorney and former Milwaukee County assistant district attorney.

It’s the season when there are two types of lawmakers: those “on Finance” or what has sometimes been described as the Legislature’s “House of Lords” and the more than 100 other lawmakers who aren’t.

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com