55th - Dean R. Kaufert
1360 Alpine Lane
Neenah 54956
Republican
56th - Terri McCormick
W6140 Long Court
Appleton 54914
Republican
A4
57th - Steve Wieckert
1 Weatherstone Drive
Appleton 54914
Republican
58th - Patricia Strachota
639 Ridge Road
West Bend 53095
Republican
59th - Daniel R. LeMahieu
21 South 8th Street
P. O. Box 700200
Oostburg 53070
Republican
60th - Mark Gottlieb
1205 Noridge Trail
Port Washington 53074
Republican
61st - Robert L. Turner
36 McKinley Avenue
Racine 53404
Democrat
62nd - John W. Lehman
708 Orchard Street
Racine 53405
Democrat
63rd - Robin Vos
4710 Eastwood Ridge
Racine 53406
Republican
64th - James Kreuser
3505 14th Place
Kenosha 53144
Democrat
65th - John P. Steinbrink
8602-88th Avenue
Pleasant Prairie 53158
Democrat
66th - Samantha Kerkman
8705 385th Avenue
Burlington 53105
Republican
67th - Jeffrey Wood
1501 Miles Street
Chippewa Falls 54729
Republican
68th - Terry Moulton
980 118th Street
Chippewa Falls 54729
Republican
69th - Scott Suder
102 South 4th Avenue
Abbotsford 54405
Republican
70th - Amy Sue Vruwink
9425 Flower Lane
Milladore 54454
Democrat
71st - Louis Molepske
1557 Church Street
Stevens Point 54481
Democrat
72nd - Marlin D. Schneider
3820 Southbrook Lane
Wisconsin Rapids 54494
Democrat
73rd - Frank Boyle
4900 East Tri-Lakes Road
Superior 54880
Democrat
74th - Gary E. Sherman
P.O. Box 157
Port Wing 54865
Democrat
75th - Mary Hubler
P. O. Box 544
1966 21-7/8 Street
Rice Lake 54868
Democrat
76th - Terese Berceau
4181 Cherokee Drive
Madison 53711
Democrat
77th - Spencer Black
5742 Elder Place
Madison 53705
Democrat
78th - Mark Pocan
309 North Baldwin
Madison 53703
Democrat
79th - Sondy Pope-Roberts
3426 Valley Woods Drive
Verona 53593
Democrat
80th - Brett Davis
1420 Raven Oaks Trail
Oregon 53575
Republican
81st - David Travis
5440 Willow Road
Waunakee 53597
Democrat
82nd - Jeff Stone
5535 Grandview Drive
Greendale 53129
Republican
83rd - Scott L. Gunderson
123 North 2nd Street
Waterford 53185
Republican
A5
84th - Mark Gundrum
5239 South Guerin Pass
New Berlin 53151
Republican
85th - Donna Seidel
807 South 20th Street
Wausau 54403
Democrat
86th - Jerry Petrowski
720 North 136th Avenue
Marathon 54448-9580
Republican
87th - Mary Williams
542 Billings Avenue
Medford 54451
Republican
88th - Judy Krawczyk
2294 Manitowoc Road
Green Bay 54311
Republican
89th - John G. Gard
481 Aubin Street
P.O. Box 119
Peshtigo 54157
Republican
90th - Karl Van Roy
1010 Coggins Court
Green Bay 54313
Republican
91st - Barbara Gronemus
36301 West Street
P.O. Box 676
Whitehall 54773
Democrat
92nd -Terry M. Musser
W13550 Murray Road
Black River Falls 54615
Republican
93rd - Rob Kreibich
3437 Nimitz Street
Eau Claire 54701
Republican
94th - Mike Huebsch
419 West Franklin
West Salem 54669
Republican
95th - Jennifer Shilling
2608 Main Street
La Crosse 54601
Democrat
96th - Lee Nerison
S3035 CTH B
Westby 54667
Republican
97th - Ann M. Nischke
202 West College Avenue
Waukesha 53186
Republican
98th - Scott R. Jensen
850 South Springdale Road
Waukesha 53186
Republican
99th - Don Pridemore
2277 Highway K
Hartford 53027
Republican
__________________
Oath of Office
Pursuant to Article IV, Section 28 of the Wisconsin Constitution, the Honorable Justice Louis B. Butler, Jr. of the Wisconsin Supreme Court administered the oath of office to the members en masse.
The attendance roll was called by the clerk, and the members, as their names were called, came to the desk to sign the Oath of Office book.
The roll was taken.
The result follows:
Present - Representatives Ainsworth, Albers, Ballweg, Benedict, Berceau, Bies, Black, Boyle, Colon, Cullen, Davis, Fields, J. Fitzgerald, Freese, Friske, Gard, Gielow, Gottlieb, Grigsby, Gronemus, Gunderson, Gundrum, Hahn, Hines, Honadel, Hubler, Huebsch, Hundertmark, Jensen, Jeskewitz, Kaufert, Kerkman, Kessler, Kestell, Kleefisch, Krawczyk, Kreibich, Kreuser, Krusick, Lamb, F. Lasee, Lehman, LeMahieu, Loeffelholz, Lothian, McCormick, Meyer, Molepske, Montgomery, Moulton, Mursau, Musser, Nass, Nelson, Nerison, Nischke, Ott, Owens, Parisi, Petrowski, Pettis, Pocan, Pope-Roberts, Pridemore, Rhoades, Richards, Schneider, Seidel, Sheridan, Sherman, Shilling, Sinicki, Staskunas, Steinbrink, Stone, Strachota, Toles, Towns, Townsend, Travis, Turner, Underheim, Van Akkeren, Van Roy, Vos, Vrakas, Vruwink, Vukmir, Ward, Wasserman, Wieckert, A. Williams, M. Williams, Wood, Young, Zepnick and Ziegelbauer. - 97.
Absent with leave - Representatives Hebl and Suder - 2.
Vacancies - None.
__________________
Representative Vrakas asked unanimous consent for a leave of absence for today's session for Representative Suder. Granted.
Representative Turner asked unanimous consent for a leave of absence for today's session for Representative Hebl. Granted.
__________________
Representative Meyer nominated Representative Gard for the position of Speaker of the Assembly for the Ninety-Seventh Regular Session of the Legislature.
Representative Kreuser nominated Representative Kessler for the position of Speaker of the Assembly for the Ninety-Seventh Regular Session of the Legislature.
There being no further nominations, the chair declared nominations closed.
The roll was taken.
The result follows:
For Representative Gard - Representatives Ainsworth, Albers, Ballweg, Bies, Davis, J. Fitzgerald, Freese, Friske, Gard, Gielow, Gottlieb, Gunderson, Gundrum, Hahn, Hines, Honadel, Huebsch, Hundertmark, Jensen, Jeskewitz, Kaufert, Kerkman, Kestell, Kleefisch, Krawczyk, Kreibich, Lamb, F. Lasee, LeMahieu, Loeffelholz, Lothian, McCormick, Meyer, Montgomery, Moulton, Mursau, Musser, Nass, Nerison, Nischke, Ott, Owens, Petrowski, Pettis, Pridemore, Rhoades, Stone, Strachota, Towns, Townsend, Underheim, Van Roy, Vos, Vrakas, Vukmir, Ward, Wieckert, M. Williams and Wood - 59.
For Representative Kessler - Representatives Benedict, Berceau, Black, Boyle, Colon, Cullen, Fields, Grigsby, Gronemus, Hubler, Kessler, Kreuser, Krusick, Lehman, Molepske, Nelson, Parisi, Pocan, Pope-Roberts, Richards, Schneider, Seidel, Sheridan, Sherman, Shilling, Sinicki, Staskunas, Steinbrink, Toles, Travis, Turner, Van Akkeren, Vruwink, Wasserman, A. Williams, Young, Zepnick and Ziegelbauer - 38.
Absent or not voting - Representatives Hebl and Suder - 2.
Representative Gard was elected Speaker of the Assembly for the Ninety-Seventh Regular Session of the Legislature.
Representatives Nischke and Toles escorted Representative Gard to the rostrum.
The oath of office was administered by the Honorable Justice David Prosser, Jr. of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Speaker Gard in the chair.
__________________
Remarks by the Speaker
"Thank you very much for the honor of being elected to lead the State Assembly. It is an honor which I shall treasure the rest of my life. Being sworn in by one of my heroes in life - Supreme Court Justice David Prosser means the world to me also. I want to thank Father Wild for blessing us today and Bobby Arnold for leading us in the national anthem. And special thanks as well to the Honorable Justice Louis Butler for administering the oath to us.
Being elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly is a true privilege and one that few people get to experience. I hope that each of you is able, in a quiet moment sometime today, to reflect upon the significance of this occasion. Signing that grand old book is like touching history. Our names are included with some amazing people who have shared this room.
As someone who has been sworn in here a couple times now - let me tell you it never gets old.
I want to take a moment to thank all the families and friends of each of the members - especially the new members - who made the trip to show support for your loved ones today. Today is a day of celebration and each of us understands the effort it took to get here. You believed in us and for that we are deeply grateful. On behalf of each member here I want to extend a heartfelt thank you for coming.
I am very fortunate to have my own family with me today. This place brought Cate Zeuske and me together and for that I will always be grateful. I want to thank my beautiful wife for the remarkable rock of support she has always been. This job can put tremendous pressure on a spouse. It helps to have someone to lean on who is so strong. I hope everyone gets a chance in his or her life to feel the happiness I do. In addition, God has blessed Cate and me with two great gifts in Libby and John Vincent. It is said, time stops for no one. The four of us have been blessed to be on this journey together and when I see how quickly they have grown I am thankful we have.
I want to thank my Mom and Dad for coming all this way to be here. Someone once said, "I am very blessed. My parents always told me I could be anything I ever wanted. When you grow up in a household like that you learn to believe in yourself." That's exactly the house I grew up in.
Finally, I want to thank my great friends from Marinette, Oconto and Brown County. The faith they have continued to put in me is very humbling. I will work hard to fulfill their expectations.
We begin this session with the tremendous hope that comes with a New Year. As I share a few thoughts of the promise of the new year and session I feel it is important to have a moment of silence for those who have experienced the horrific tragedy of the recent earthquake and tsunami that has caused so much loss of life and pain and suffering in the world. It is an indescribable loss. My hope is that the world will seize this moment as an opportunity to come together and care for each other.
Also, I want to recognize one of our members who is not with us today. Representative Scott Suder is currently on active duty with the 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard. In addition to Representative Suder, I know that a number of us have family and friends doing the hard work of freedom and placing themselves in harm's way in our nation's war on terror. We owe all of these individuals and the thousands serving by their side an immense debt of gratitude and we pray for their safe return.
Two years ago I stood here and said the journey we were about to embark on was unlike anything most of us had ever been through before but that I was confident people were up to the task.
A7
I was right. We helped lead our state through difficult economic times and worked successfully to turn the state back in the right direction. I am pleased with the progress we made and are grateful to all of you who were part of that success. By almost any measure, last session was the most productive and bi-partisan in recent memory.
This house passed 538 pieces of legislation. 85% of those bills passed with bi-partisan majorities of 80 votes or more.
In the face of a $3.2 billion deficit, we passed a bi-partisan, balanced, state budget - and got it done nearly two weeks ahead of schedule.
Governor Doyle signed 327 of our bills into law. That compares with just 109 bills signed into law in the 2001-02 session and 198 in the 1999-2000 session. That is real progress.
We cut taxes, we passed long overdue regulatory reforms, shored up our energy infrastructure, made venture capital more available, modernized our regulation of financial institutions, passed the comprehensive Agricultural Renewal Initiative, and despite a $3.2 billion deficit, increased funding for public schools $168 million.
