WisPolitics.com Luncheon – Isthmus | Madison, Wisconsin

Media release: Tim Cullen and Tom Loftus, who have spent their entire lives in politics, talk about current events and their new books from Little Creek Press.

Tim Cullen is the former Democratic Senate Majority Leader from Janesville. Tom Loftus is the former Democratic House Speaker from Sun Prairie. In their legislative heyday, they teamed up to create bills and mischief.

Tim joined Republican Governor Tommy Thompson's cabinet and made a career in health care. Tom tried to beat Thompson, but eventually became ambassador to Norway and a colleague of Tommy's in the fight for better global health.

Tim's book is about redistricting, a central part of the 2024 election story that he helped shape. Tom's book is a memoir of his most interesting life. And they have a lot to say about current events.

For more information, see Cullen's book, Wisconsin Gerrymandering: The Fight for Permanent Fair Maps and Why It Matters: https://littlecreekpress.com/product/wisconsin-gerrymandering/

For more information, see Loftus' book “Mission to Oslo: Dancing with the Queen, Doing Business with the Russians, Making History” https://littlecreekpress.com/product/Mission to Oslo – Dancing withthe-queen-makes-deals-with-the-Russians shape history/

They will be answering questions and signing their books at this event, food and non-alcoholic beverages are included. Books can be purchased at the event or here: https://littlecreekpress.com/

More about Cullen’s book:

Gerrymandering. That's a big word for a big mess when it comes to how Wisconsin's districts are drawn. The practice is “an egregious abuse of power” that occurs whenever a political party controls the legislature and the governor's office, writes former Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Tim Cullen, author of “Wisconsin Gerrymandering: The Fight for Permanent Fair Maps and Why It Matters” (ISBN: 978-1-955656-76-4, retail: $17.95), published this summer by Little Creek Press, Mineral Point, Wisconsin.

“The Republicans did it in Wisconsin, the Democrats did it in Illinois,” he says, because gerrymandering not only keeps a political party in power, but also has a major impact on how policy issues are decided. Cullen adds that he wrote this book to explain why gerrymandering happened in Wisconsin and to discuss how to keep gerrymandering out of Wisconsin. As a former Senate Majority Leader, the practice is a source of frequent questions from voters, he notes. “They want to know, 'How and why does this gerrymandering happen?' So I wrote the book to answer that question.”

His book answers the questions of how it happens, how it finds its way into partisan politics, and how it might be stopped in Wisconsin, if at all. The book includes recent court decisions, explains the impact of gerrymandering on politics and elections, and ultimately offers the history lessons needed to untangle gerrymandering's twisted past in a way that creates a clearer map for the future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tim Cullen, former Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader (1982-1987), is a Janesville, Wisconsin native and graduate of UW–Whitewater. He was elected to the Senate as a Democrat at age 30. He later served as Secretary of Health and Human Services under Governor Tommy Thompson, and after his term he worked for Blue Cross for 20 years while also serving on the Janesville School Board. He was re-elected to his old Senate seat in 2010 and served until 2015. Today, Cullen still lives in Janesville and spends his time working for the three foundations he founded.

EARLY PRAISE

Wisconsin gerrymandering is more than an insightful and necessary lesson in history. … It is a call to all Republicans, Democrats and independents to join together to fight gerrymandering. – Former Wisconsin Governor Martin Schreiber

ABOUT THE BOOK: Tim Cullen will split all profits from this book equally between Janesville's Multicultural Teachers Scholarship Fund (which he created in 2008) and Beloit's similar Grow Your Own scholarship program. The sole purpose of these programs is to raise money for college scholarships for students and adults of color, with the goal of (1) supporting students who aspire to be teachers and are willing to return to Janesville or Beloit to teach and (2) making the teaching corps more like the students it teaches. Find “Wisconsin Gerrymandering” at your favorite bookstore. (Wholesale and retail contact: Ingram Content Group or www.littlecreekpress.com.)