The Volunteer Who Became a Three Term Governor of Wisconsin |Jim Doyle (Tunisia)

Profile in Citizenship —

by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65)

Jim Doyle 2009

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Jim Doyle was inspired by JFK’s call to public service, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tunisia from 1967 to 1969, working as a teacher alongside of his wife, Jessica, also a Volunteer. Thereafter, in 1972. he earned a law degree from Harvard Law School.

He then moved to a Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona where he worked as an attorney in a federal legal services office. In 1975, he returned to Madison and served for three terms as a  Dane County District Attorney from 1977 to 1982. After leaving that office, he spent eight years in private practice.

 In 1990, Jim was elected as Wisconsin’s Attorney General and reelected in 1994 and 1995. Between 1997 and 1998, he served as the president of the National Association of Attorneys General. In this capacity, he was considered tough on crime, but not sympathetic to its causes. He also gained recognition as a result of several successful lawsuits against tobacco companies in Wisconsin.

Being governor
In the 2002 gubernator election, Jim defeated his opponent by over four percent of the vote, becoming the first Democratic governor in the state since 1986. He was sworn in on January 6, 2003 at the State Capital in Madison, Wisconsin. In the 2006 gubernatorial election, Jim went on to win in a year in which no incumbent Democratic governor, senator or congressman lost the reelection bids.

As Governor, Jim faced a $3.2 billion deficit; he ended the year with this being reduced to $2.15 billion. His stated priories were investing in public schools, including the University of Wisconsin System; lowing property taxes, regional economic development; transportation reform; and the funding of stem cell research. Proposals for new programs were constrained by continued budget cutting and his decision to honor a campaign pledge to not raise taxes.

He served as Chair of the Midwestern Governors Association in 2007. Jim raised almost $500,000 for a campaign fund in the first half of 2007, leaving political analysts to think he would have been ready to run for a third term as governor.

In a speech to the state Democratic party convention in July 2007, Jim commented: “And at the end of these four years of working together, who knows, maybe we’ll need four more’. He changed his campaign website, which was seen as a further indication of a re-election run. However, on August 17, 2009, Jim announced that he would not seek a third term.

Being “A Profile in Citizenship”
Given Jim’s public service, from his time in Peace Corps, through to his legal work on an Indian Reservation, and his successful three terms as Governor, he most certainly has earned a Profile in Citizenship.