2009 Senate Joint Resolution 80
ENROLLED JOINT RESOLUTION
Relating to: the years of public service of Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton.
Whereas, Barbara Lawton was born in Wisconsin, graduated from Waterford Union High School and Lawrence University, and earned a master's degree in Spanish from UW-Madison. In 2008, she received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Lawrence University and an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Milwaukee Institute of Arts and Design. She took office as Wisconsin's 43rd lieutenant governor on January 3, 2003, and was re-elected in 2006; and
Whereas, Lawton's route to becoming Wisconsin's first woman elected lieutenant governor was built upon a foundation of public service. As a founder of the Greater Green Bay Area Community Foundation and the Multicultural Center, as an advisor to Entrepreneurs of Color, in service on various boards, including that of the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College Foundation, she is firmly grounded in community; and
Whereas, Lawton has focused her efforts as lieutenant governor on economic development and has been called “Wisconsin's green leader" for her Green Economy Agenda, prompting Madison's WISC-TV editorial board to dub her “one of our best." Her efforts earned her an invitation to work with Oxfam America and the Nobel Women's Initiative on their women and global climate change projects; and
Whereas, Lawton recently completed her tenure as chair of the National Lieutenant Governors Association and leads a multiagency project to expand access to opportunity in Wisconsin for disadvantaged and minority-owned and women-owned businesses. She is also honorary chair of Wisconsin United for Mental Health and led a task force on women and depression; and
Whereas, Lawton serves on the National Leadership Council for the American Association of Colleges and Universities, leading Wisconsin's pilot of their ten-year national campaign to champion the deep public value of higher education for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity; and
Whereas, as chair of the Wisconsin Arts Board, Lawton led the agency to move Wisconsin's creative economy forward through development of a strong arts and culture industry in every part of the state and her leadership and the work of the Arts Board were recognized with three consecutive invitations to the National Arts Policy Roundtable; and
Whereas, Lawton has served the people of Wisconsin with great dignity and distinction, and her actions on the important issues of the day reflect her confidence in the people of Wisconsin as the state's greatest resource; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the
senate, the assembly concurring, That the members of the Wisconsin legislature honor Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton and her family, including husband Cal, son Joseph, and daughter Amanda, for her years of dedicated and passionate service on behalf of the citizens of Wisconsin.
