A candid and insightful book covering the last 45 years of Wisconsin politics. RINGSIDE SEAT: Wisconsin Politics 1970 to Scott Walker takes a look at not only at the Act 10 episode but also Cullen’s upbringing, how he came into public service, the two eras he served in the State Senate, the changes that occurred between these two time periods and the observations he made from his “ringside seat.” “…part memoir, part attempt to be a political-instruction manual, part history of nearly half a century of Wisconsin politics, part critique of politics today and part critique of the Walker governorship. This book is also an effort to tell the true story of Wisconsin values which are more important than any one person or any one governor.” Ringside Seat has chapters on the nature of politics, then and now; Act 10 and the true story on the Illinois episode; how gerrymandering has severely affected democracy in Wisconsin; the manipulation of the facts on the mining issue in northern Wisconsin; and, in Scott Walker’s own words, the dropping of “bombs” on Wisconsin such as the attack on the University of Wisconsin System including the ill-fated effort to eliminate the commitment the UW-Madison has had to the pursuit of truth since 1892, the Voter Suppression I.D. law, the refusal to grant any pardons (unlike his predecessors), leading the effort to eliminate the Government Accountability Board, orchestrating the attempt to gut Wisconsin’s Open Records statute, and trying vigorously to replace Wisconsin’s civil service system with a return to political patronage. The list of other “bombs” could go on for much longer.”
