MADISON, Wis. — Earlier this week, Assembly Democratic Minority Leader Gordon Hintz announced his plans to step down from the leadership role.
With two kids under the age of five, Hintz said he has new priorities, and he won't be the only one deciding whether or not to seek reelection in 2022.
Right now, Hintz has a few more weeks in the Assembly Minority Leader position with plans to step down on Jan. 10, leaving lots of speculation in the meantime about who might fill the role.
Regardless of who does, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos thinks it could be difficult to reach across the aisle.
“I had a really good relationship with Peter Barca,” Vos told Spectrum News 1 Political Reporter Anthony DaBruzzi during an end-of-year interview. “I think he was a good, decent person who worked really hard to find consensus. We didn't often find it, but it didn't mean we couldn't respect each other's position. I think Gordon was chosen because he was significantly more partisan than Peter was, and now he's leaving, and I assume the Democrats will choose another partisan. The Democrats don't want to find a way to get things done. They want to try to make an issue and to try to find a way to get liberals to be happy with what they are doing here in the Capitol, and that's not been very effective, which is why they don't win many elections.”
Hintz, on the other hand, said it isn't about being partisan. Rather, he called it accountability.
When he took on the role of minority leader in 2017 after former State Rep. Peter Barca stepped down, Hintz said the best advice he got was that he didn't have to do the job the same way as his predecessor.
“The Speaker sounds like he's being incredibly defensive,” Hintz said. “If you try to jam through a boondoggle like Foxconn and don't expect to be called out for it or if you do the lame-duck session and undermine the will of the voters, and you get called out for it, and you get defensive, that's not being partisan. That's being held accountable. Because we've been able to pick up seats, because we haven't lost any seats, and I think we've been successful in defeating Gov. Walker, I understand why he would be that defensive."
Assembly Democrats plan to meet on Monday to elect their new leader.
State Rep. Greta Neubauer, who serves on the Joint Finance Committee, has already announced she is running for the position. Caucus Chair Mark Spreitzer told WisPolitics he is considering it as well.