Almanac Home Browse By State Browse By Name State of Wisconsin Gov. Thompson (R) Sen. Kohl (D) Sen. Feingold (D) Rep. Neumann (R-01) Rep. Klug (R-02) Rep. Kind (D-03) Rep. Kleczka (D-04) Rep. Barrett (D-05) Rep. Petri (R-06) Rep. Obey (D-07) Rep. Johnson (D-08) Rep. Sensenbrenner (R-09)

Rolling dairy country, blanketed by snow during most of the winter, gloriously green under sunny blue skies in summer, the southern tier of Wisconsin from Lake Michigan inland to the Rock River Valley is some of America's prime industrial country. Settled by Yankee and German farmers 150 years ago, it was once primarily dairyland. By the early 20th Century, the steady habits and high skills of the local dairy farmers provided a good labor pool for factories. Today, there are still major plants here: the operations center for Johnson Wax (and its Frank Lloyd Wright-designed tower and Wingspread Center) in Racine; and the Parker Pen operation in Janesville. In between on lakes are resorts, most notably Lake Geneva, a favorite of rich Chicagoans. To the untrained eye, this part of southern Wisconsin looks much the same as nearby northern Illinois; but politically there is a vast difference. The dotted line on the map is the boundary between the corruption-prone machine politics of Illinois and squeaky-clean progressive politics of Wisconsin.

This is the land of the 1st District of Wisconsin, from Lake Michigan west to the Rock River and beyond, a politically marginal area in Wisconsin politics and a marginal district in congressional politics from 1958-70 and then again since 1993. In between, it was the district represented by the late Les Aspin, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee from 1985-93 and secretary of Defense from 1993-94.

The congressman from the 1st District is Mark Neumann, a Republican elected in 1994. He is emblematic, if not exactly typical, of the Republican freshmen of that year. Neumann grew up in southern Wisconsin, worked his way through college washing dishes and tending bar, became a math teacher, then decided to become a homebuilder on the side in 1980. In 1986 he started his own business and made a fortune by using computers to make quick and accurate estimates on custom-built houses. He sold the business in 1992 and, deciding that he must do something about the national debt and high taxes, he ran for Congress. He had support from the Christian right, spent more than $700,000 of his own money, and held Aspin to a 58%-41% win. When Aspin left for the Defense post, Neumann ran again in the special, but spent less of his own money and minimized his connection with the religious right and sharply attacked the Clinton budget and tax package. One Democrat, former state party chairman Jeff Neubauer, came forward and defended it, but he lost the primary 49%-34% to Peter Barca, a state legislator with a solid base in Kenosha and strong labor union support. Barca said he would not vote for many of the new taxes proposed by Clinton, but backed healthcare and welfare reform, while labor unions conducted a heavy "negative persuasion" phone bank campaign against Neumann, especially against his proposal to invest some Social Security trust funds. Barca won 50%-49%; Neumann demanded a recount, which delayed Barca's swearing in until June, allowing him to skirt the first tough vote on Clinton's tax-increase proposal.

Neumann was reluctant to run again in 1994, but was pressed by national Republican leaders. Again he argued that taxes and regulations were strangling small companies like his; he attacked Barca for voting for the Clinton budget and tax package after having pledged to vote against the gas tax it contained. Although Barca voted against some spending measures, Neumann responded, "When his vote doesn't count, he votes conservative," and attacked him for getting most of his campaign money from PACs. Neumann ran ads featuring Governor Tommy Thompson and supported the Contract With America. Barca carried Kenosha County and led in Rock County, Neumann's home area. But Neumann carried Racine and the area around Lake Geneva, for a narrow 49.4%-48.8% victory.

To the House Neumann brought his almost religious zeal for cutting spending and balancing the budget. He got a seat on Appropriations, which leaders thought would be helpful in a marginal district. But Neumann disapproved of pork barrel projects even at home and yelled at Walworth County officials seeking money for a sewer project. Neumann's voting record was maverick also, rather moderate on economics and isolationist-prone on foreign issues. He wrote his own budget which would balance by 1999 and cut corporate welfare; it got 89 votes on the floor in May 1995. In September 1995 he tried to amend an appropriations bill to require congressional approval of the dispatch of any U.S. troops to Bosnia. When his amendment lost, he refused to vote for the bill, saying he was acting out of "conscience" and did not want to "play the Washington game." Chairman Bob Livingston was furious and Speaker Newt Gingrich kicked him off the National Security Subcommittee. After other freshmen squawked, a seat was found for him (Peter Hoekstra gave up his) on Budget. And so it went. "Every once in a while, he has his moments," Gingrich said of him. "If it's a matter of conscience, you should never give in . . . But there are a lot of times, frankly, when you just get to be a pain in the neck," Gingrich added. Neumann, sure of answers, decries partisanship: "This Republican-Democrat thing -- it's just so destructive."

At first defiance of powers in Washington made Neumann look like an easy winner. But Wisconsin has a late filing deadline, and he got serious opposition. Kenosha Council President Lydia Spottswood was one of several rich and hitherto unknown women who ran strong Democratic races in 1996. She beat Secretary of State Douglas LaFollette in the September primary 46%-37%; LaFollette, of Wisconsin's founding Progressive family, ran a closer race against Les Aspin in 1970. This was a contest of styles as well as issues. Neumann on the stump would continually get into harsh arguments with constituents, then sometimes pull back. "He's a creep," Spottswood told a New York Times reporter. "This is a man who doesn't like serving his constituents . . . Have you ever seen a more rigid person than Mark Neumann?" She went on to tell what the reporter found to be baseless stories about Neumann's business dealings and parenting skills.

The campaigning was rough. The AFL-CIO spent over $300,000 on ads attacking Neumann for backing Medicare "cuts" and lifting pension fund protections. Neumann, who spent $1.2 million, none of it his own, ran an ad accusing Spottswood of voting in 1990 for a Kenosha redevelopment project that boosted the value of an apartment partly owned by her husband, a successful physician (she spent $223,000 of her own money in her $709,000 campaign). "This is the kind of action that got Dan Rostenkowski in jail," the ad said; Spottswood was cleared by the city district attorney, and Neumann had to pull his ads. Neumann won, in a district Bill Clinton was carrying 50%-38%, by 51%-49%, a narrow margin though the widest one in the 1st District since Aspin resigned.

After the election Neumann voted "present" in the election for speaker; he wanted to vote for Dick Armey, but Armey talked him out of it. Neumann attacked Senators Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold for opposing the "partial-birth" abortion ban and called on them to switch. Neumann also hit Feingold for opposing the balanced budget amendment and supporting the 1993 tax increase, and said he might run against Feingold in 1998. He argued that he would be more effective in the Senate with its less restrictive rules. Meanwhile, in March 1997 he helped beat a budget resolution 213-210, objecting because it increased the budget of the House itself.

Update: November 1998
Republican Paul Ryan defeated Democrat Lydia Spottswood and succeeds Neumann. Click here for a profile of Ryan.

The People: Pop. 1990: 543,380; 29% rural; 12% age 65+; 90% White; 5% Black; 1% Asian; 3% Hispanic origin. Households: 60% married couple families; 28% married couple fams. w. children; 39% college educ.; median household income: $31,431; per capita income: $13,567; median gross rent: $401; median house value: $61,200.

1996 Presidential Vote Clinton (D) 117,308 (50%) Dole (R) 88,599 (38%) Perot (I) 25,957 (11%) Other 4,353 (2%)

1992 Presidential Vote Clinton (D) 109,790 (41%) Bush (R) 94,712 (35%) Perot (I) 62,465 (23%)

Rep. Mark W. Neumann (R)

Elected 1994; b. Feb. 27, 1954, Mukwonago; home, Janesville; U. of WI, B.S. 1975, M.S., 1977; Lutheran; married (Sue).

Career: High Schl. teacher, 1977-80; Realtor, 1980-86; Homebuilder, 1986-92; Owner, Neumann Corp. Real Estate & Devel., 1992-93.

DC Office: 415 CHOB 20515, 202-225-3031; Fax: 202-225-3393; e-mail: mneumann@hr.house.gov.

District Offices: Janesville, 608-752-4050; Kenosha, 414-654-1901.

Committees: Appropriations (28th of 34 R): District of Columbia; VA, HUD & Independent Agencies. Budget (17th of 24 R).

Group Ratings
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CFA	CON	NFIB	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
1996	15	25	42	31	38	93	92	69	95	90	100
1995	0	--	--	0	8	53	--	100	100	--	--

National Journal Ratings
	1995 LIB	--	1995 CONS		1996 LIB	--	1996 CONS
Economic	34%	--	64%		42%	--	56%
Social	0%	--	79%		10%	--	86%
Foreign	42%	--	55%		55%	--	43%

Key Votes of the 104th Congress
1. Reduce Medicare Growth $ Y 2. Ovrd. Product Liab. Veto Y 3. Increase Min. Wage Y 4. Welfare Reform Y 5. Flag Amendment Y 6. Drop EPA Limits N		7. Repeal Assault-Weap. Ban Y 8. Ovrd. Part. Birth Veto Y 9. Cuban Embargo Y 10. Bar Bosnia Troop $ Y 11. Cut Anti-Missile Defense N 12. Bar U.N. Uniforms Y

Election Results
1996 gen.	Mark W. Neumann (R)	118,408	(51%)	($1,211,134)
	Lydia C. Spottswood (D)	114,148	(49%)	($708,825)
1996 prim.	Mark W. Neumann (R)	unopposed
1994 gen.	Mark W. Neumann (R)	83,937	(49%)	($512,091)
	Peter W. Barca (D)	82,817	(49%)	($671,438)
	Others	3,101	(2%)

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