James Doyle (Wisconsin)

James Doyle

Democratic Party

Prior offices

Governor of Wisconsin

---

Education

Bachelor's

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Personal

Profession

Attorney

James Edward (Jim) Doyle (born November 23, 1945) was the Democratic governor of Wisconsin from 2003 to 2011. He first took office in January 2003. He defeated incumbent Governor Scott McCallum by a margin of 45% to 41%.

Biography

Doyle was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. He attended Stanford University for three years and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned his law degree from Harvard University in 1972.

Doyle's career experience included working as an attorney in a Madison law firm, as a law school lecturer, in the Navajo Indiana Reservation legal services office, and as a district attorney.

Political career

Attorney General

Doyle was elected Wisconsin Attorney General in 1990, a position he held until 2003, when he took office as governor. Between 1997 and 1998, he served as the president of the National Association of Attorneys General. During his twelve years as Attorney General, Doyle argued three cases before the United States Supreme Court.

Governor

As Governor, Doyle came into office with a $3.2 billion deficit. Doyle pledged not to raise taxes and proposed spending cuts. He signed a property tax freeze that has resulted in an anticipated decrease in average statewide property taxes in 2006.

Elections

2006

Doyle defeated Republican Congressman Mark Green in 2006, after both won their primaries unopposed. Doyle defeated Green 53% to 45%.

After his victory, Doyle said, "I know this has been a difficult campaign, and sometimes it got a little bit more heated than any of us wanted. But right now, it is time for us in Wisconsin to come together. We have honest differences, but we all love Wisconsin."

Wisconsin Governor/Lt. Governor, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Jim Doyle/Barbara C. Lawton Incumbent	52.7%	1,139,115
	Republican	Mark Green/Jean Hundertmark	45.3%	979,427
	Green	Nelson Eisman/Leon Todd	1.9%	40,709
	Scattering	Various	0.1%	2,449
Total Votes				2,161,700
Election results via Wisconsin State Elections Board

2002

After Tommy Thompson resigned as Wisconsin Governor to become United States Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2001, Lieutenant Governor Scott McCallum became Governor, serving out the remaining two years of Thompson's term.

Doyle defeated McCallum by four percentage points in the general election. According to the Badger Herald at the time, "The race between Doyle and McCallum has been a heavily contested one, and in the last weeks of their campaigns both candidates resorted to negative campaign tactics."

Wisconsin Governor/Lt. Governor, 2002
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Jim Doyle/Barbara C. Lawton	46.1%	800,515
	Republican	Scott McCallum/M.A. Farrow Incumbent	42.3%	734,779
	Green	Jim Young/Jeff Peterson	0.3%	4,411
	Libertarian	Ed Thompson/M. Reynolds	10.7%	185,455
	Independent	Alan D. Eisenberg	0.2%	2,847
	Independent	Ty A. Bollerud	0.2%	2,637
	Independent	Mike Mangan	0.1%	1,710
	Independent	Aneb Jah Rasta	0.1%	929
	Scattering	Various	0.1%	2,366
Total Votes				1,735,649
Election results via Wisconsin State Election Board

Noteworthy events

Employee contracts

Gov. Jim Doyle's administration negotiated the public employee contracts and it hit a snag in the state legislature in mid-December 2010.

The Wisconsin Senate was deadlocked 16-16 on the series of public employee contracts the chamber considered. Democratic state Sens. Russ Decker and Jeff Plale joined Republican state senators in opposition.

"It wasn't a party-line vote," Decker said.

Decker is a member of the Bricklayers International Union. He voted for the slate of union contracts in a joint legislative committee Wednesday morning. He was stripped of his majority leader title in a closed-door meeting, following the first deadlocked vote.

When the Senate returned to vote by the same count on each of the remaining contracts, state Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay, took the role of majority leader.

"I'm extremely surprised," said state Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha. "Never in a million years would you that the majority leader, who's been telling people for two weeks that they (the Senate) had the votes and they were moving forward, would be the one to actually kill (the series of contracts)," Barca said.

External links

• Wisconsin Office of the Governor Jim Doyle Official state site
• National Governors Association - Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle (dead link) biography
• Follow the Money - Jim Doyle 2006 campaign contributions
• On the Issues - Jim Doyle issue positions and quotes
• Project Vote Smart - Governor James E. 'Jim' Doyle (WI) profile
• Doyle Lawton Official campaign site

Footnotes

• "Notable Former Volunteers / Government."Peace Corps official site. Accessed 5 January, 2007.

Political offices
Preceded by Scott McCallum	Wisconsin Governor 2003-2011	Succeeded by Scott Walker
Preceded by Don Hanaway	Wisconsin Attorney General 1990-2002	Succeeded by Peg Lautenschlager