Wisconsin Gerrymandering: The Fight for Permanent Fair Maps and Why It Matters

Shortly after the 2010 Wisconsin elections, which put Scott Walker in the governor's office and saw Republicans gain majorities in the state senate and assembly, the fiercely partisan politics that ensued drew national attention.

Former Wisconsin State Senate Majority Leader and Health and Social Services Secretary Tim Cullen wrote about Walker's dismantling of public employees' rights in his acclaimed first book, Ringside Seat.

Now Cullen shifts his focus to the legislature and state and federal courts where, in 2011, partisan gerrymandering-drawing legislative districts that nearly guarantee one party control-gave Wisconsin Republicans a death grip on the senate and assembly.

In Wisconsin Gerrymandering, Cullen traces the history of gerrymandering in the state and details the decade-long efforts to end the insidious practice. "It's not a partisan issue," Cullen writes. "It's an abuse of power issue."

Cullen was a leader in the successful-for now-fight to end gerrymandering in Wisconsin and has written a timely, cautionary, important book.

Tim Cullen was born and raised in Janesville, Wisconsin. Cullen graduated from UW-Whitewater with a major in political science and a minor in history. The first election he won was to the Janesville City Council in 1970. Four years later, Cullen was elected to the state senate as a Democrat at the age of thirty. He went on to become Senate Majority Leader from 1982 to 1987, and in 1987 he became Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services under Governor Tommy Thompson. Cullen took a job in 1988 with Blue Cross and worked with them for the next 20 years. He served a term on the School District of Janesville School Board from 2007 to 2010. In 2010, he decided to run for his old senate seat. He was elected and served until 2015. Today Cullen still lives in Janesville and spends his time working with the three foundations he started. Cullen will equally split all profits from this book to the Janesville Multicultural Teachers Scholarship Fund, which he started in 2008, and Beloit's similar scholarship program, Grow Your Own. The sole purpose of these programs is to raise money for college scholarships for students and adults of color. The goal is to support those students who wish to become teachers and are willing to return to Janesville or Beloit to teach. The goal of the foundations is to make the teacher corps look more like the students they teach.