Governor Jim Doyle

Accomplishments:

Jim Doyle was sworn in as the 44th Governor of Wisconsin on January 6, 2003. He is the first Democratic Governor of Wisconsin in more than 16 years. Governor Doyle has proven to be a strong leader, working in a bipartisan way to get Wisconsin back on track.

When he took office, Governor Doyle inherited a $3.2 billion deficit – the largest deficit in Wisconsin’s history. Governor Doyle faced the challenge head on and balanced the budget while holding the line on taxes. As a result, state taxes as a percentage of income are now the lowest in 34 years

Now Governor Doyle is working to move Wisconsin forward – creating jobs, expanding access to health care, and most importantly, investing in Wisconsin’s future, our kids.

The Doyle Agenda: Putting Kids First

“As a prosecutor and as Attorney General, I saw what happens when this state under-invests in children, particularly when they are young. I promised myself if I ever became Governor, I would make Wisconsin’s children my number one priority,” Governor Doyle has said. Even in difficult financial times for the state, Governor Doyle has worked hard to put the interests of children first.

In his first six months in office—despite inheriting the largest deficit in Wisconsin history—Governor Doyle found a way to provide an additional $189 million for Wisconsin public schools, one of the only areas in the budget that received an increase in funding. He also protected four-year-old kindergarten and our SAGE small class size initiative from legislative attempts to eliminate or weaken the programs. A graduate and strong supporter of the University of Wisconsin, he also enacted the largest increase in financial aid in state history.

In his second year as Governor, Doyle launched the “KidsFirst” plan – a comprehensive agenda to invest in Wisconsin’s children, starting with the early years of life. The plan includes efforts to improve the quality of child care, expand access to four-year-old kindergarten and school breakfast, strengthen our foster care and child welfare system, improve children’s health, and offer parent education home visits to every new parent in Wisconsin.

Economy

When Governor Doyle took office, the national economy was deep in recession and Wisconsin was no exception. Through his “Grow Wisconsin” agenda, Governor Doyle has worked hard to put our state in the position to create jobs again.

Governor Doyle has now signed into law virtually every major piece of legislation called for under “Grow Wisconsin” – including financial modernization legislation, tax reforms to help manufacturers pay the rising costs of energy, a bill to increase venture capital available to Wisconsin’s entrepreneurs, the single sales factor tax reform bill which repealed the tax penalty on companies that create jobs, and the most aggressive regulatory reform in the Midwest.

From funding the BioStar initiative to expanding access to technology zone tax credits, Governor Doyle is capitalizing on Wisconsin’s leadership in research, biotechnology, and stem cells, and laying the foundation for a vast expansion in high tech jobs.

Health Care

From day one, Governor Doyle has made protecting health care a major priority. At a time when other states were cutting hundreds of thousands of people off of health care, Governor Doyle protected eligibility and benefits for SeniorCare, BadgerCare, and Medical Assistance. Governor Doyle also created a pharmaceutical purchasing pool that will help reduce the cost of prescription drug purchases for state employees and will be expanded to allow companies to share in the savings generated from the buying power of the state.

Governor Doyle has also been a national leader in the fight to give Americans access to safe, affordable prescription drugs from Canada. Under his leadership, Wisconsin became the second state in the country to create a website – drugsavings.wi.gov—that allows citizens to purchase lower price prescription drugs from companies that the state has visited and found to be safe, reputable and reliable.

Governor Doyle signed a health care co-op bill that will help farm families lower health care costs by creating five regional health care purchasing alliances to negotiate better coverage, lower premiums for farmers, and improve health care delivery for farmers and others who are underinsured. He also signed legislation to require all universities and colleges in the state to provide students with information on meningitis, and on the availability and effectiveness of vaccines.

Preparation to serve:

Governor Doyle’s parents were founding members of the modern Democratic Party in Wisconsin and he credits them for instilling in him the belief that politics and government are honorable professions, and that public service is a way to improve people’s lives.

Governor Doyle attended Stanford University for three years, then finished his senior year at UW-Madison. He is a 1972 graduate of Harvard Law School.

Inspired by John F. Kennedy’s call to public service, after college the Governor and First Lady worked for two years as teachers in Tunisia, Africa in the Peace Corps. After he graduated from law school, the Governor and First Lady moved to the Navajo Indian Reservation in Chinle, Arizona to work as an attorney and teacher, respectively.

In 1975, Governor Doyle was elected Dane County District Attorney and served three terms from 1977-82. When he left that office, he spent eight years building his own private law practice until he was elected Wisconsin Attorney General in 1990. Governor Doyle was reelected as Attorney General in 1994 and 1998.

Link to official site

Copyright & Paid for by The Democratic Governors Association

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