Glenn Grothman

Early life and education

Grothman graduated from Homestead High School in Mequon in 1973. In 1978, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor of business administration degree. He received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1983, was admitted to the bar, and became an attorney with a firm in West Bend.

Wisconsin legislature

Grothman was elected to the 58th Assembly District in a special election held in December 1993. From 1999 to 2004, he was the Assembly Majority Caucus Vice Chairperson. In 2004, he challenged State Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer in the Republican primary. He ran well to Panzer's right. He won the nomination in a rout, taking 79 percent of the vote to Panzer's 21 percent.

He was unopposed in the general election for this heavily Republican district. The district included the city of West Bend, other parts of Washington County, and parts of Fond du Lac, Dodge, Sheboygan, and Ozaukee counties. From 2007-08, he was the Senate Minority Caucus Chairperson. He has been the assistant Republican leader since 2009, serving as assistant minority leader from 2009-10, and as assistant majority leader since 2011. Grothman is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

2011 Wisconsin budget protests

Grothman was a vocal proponent of SB11, a controversial bill proposed by Governor Scott Walker in early 2011. He has said he supports the so-called budget repair bill because it is fiscally responsible. In a recent press interview, he said that he did not "find it impressive" that over 70,000 protesters marched on the capitol.

During the protests, Grothman was cornered by almost 200 pro-union protesters yelling "Shame! Shame!" outside the state capitol building. Grothman said he was not concerned about violence at the time, adding that, "They're loud, they'll give you the finger, and they yell at you, but I really think deep down inside they're just mostly college kids having fun, just like they're having fun sleeping with their girlfriends on air mattresses. That's the guts of that crowd." He also described the protesters as "a different breed of person" and "a bunch of slobs taking up the building."

During this time, Grothman also advocated the hiring of more business-friendly individuals to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. In doing so, he went out of his way to single out one of the University of Wisconsin campuses as a target: "Maybe you (should) look to hire those people who know what the real world is like, rather than a recent graduate from UW-Stevens Point who doesn't know what the real world is like." This was only days before appearing at UW–Stevens Point with the Joint Finance Committee for a day of hearings on Scott Walker's budget bill.

Grothman was subject to a recall effort in the spring of 2011, but the effort failed, collecting only 75% of the required signatures. During the recall, Grothman supporters gathered hundreds of signatures for a giant "Thank You" card for Grothman.

2014 election

On April 3, 2014, Grothman announced he would run in that year's Republican primary for Wisconsin's 6th congressional district against 17-term incumbent Tom Petri. He positioned himself well to Petri's right; in his campaign announcement he called Petri a "decent, genial person" who lacked the "sense of urgency" to put more curbs on "a federal government that seems to be out of control." Grothman did not have to give up his state senate seat to run for Congress; Wisconsin state senators serve staggered four-year terms, and he would not have been up for reelection until 2016. Petri announced shortly after Grothman entered the race that he wouldn't run for reelection, but Grothman remained in the race.

Grothman's longtime home in West Bend was located in the 5th District, represented by fellow Republican Jim Sensenbrenner. However, his state senate district included much of the southeastern portion of the congressional district. In the summer of 2014, Grothman moved to Campellsport, a suburb of Fond du Lac, which is located in the 6th District.

In the general election, Grothman defeated the Democratic nominee, Winnebago County Executive Mark Harris, with 57 percent of the vote.

Committee assignments

4-year-old kindergarten

Grothman believes the kindergarten program for 4-year-olds should be defunded by Governor Scott Walker because any academic benefits disappear by the fourth grade, and the program is used by school districts to pad their budgets to get more state aid.

Concealed carry

An advocate of Second Amendment rights, Grothman is a long-time supporter of concealed carry legislation, but does not advocate allowing concealed weapons in taverns. He believes concealed carry laws would deter criminal behavior, with permits being awarded to law-abiding citizens who pass a gun safety course.

Grothman co-introduced 2011 SB 93, which was signed into law by Governor Scott Walker This bill made Wisconsin the 49th state to legalize concealed carry.

Equal pay

Speaking in support of Governor Scott Walker's decision to repeal the Wisconsin Equal Pay Act, Grothman stated that the alleged pay differential is explainable: "Once you break it down by married and unmarried, the differential disappears." However, a study by the American Association of University Women in 2007 found that life choices and family circumstances explain only a portion of the difference in pay between genders. Grothman rejected that study, further claiming, "You could argue that money is more important for men. I think a guy in their first job, maybe because they expect to be a breadwinner someday, may be a little more money-conscious. To attribute everything to a so-called bias in the workplace is just not true.”

Homosexuality

He opposed a provision in a 2010 sex education law that prohibited teachers from promoting bias based on sexual orientation, saying that he did not believe the topic should be discussed at all in the public schools. According to the Capitol Times, Grothman's opposition was based on the belief that instructors who lead these talks would have what he called an "agenda" to persuade students to become gay. He postulated that "Part of that agenda which is left unsaid is that some of those who throw it out as an option would like it if more kids became homosexuals."

Grothman stated that he was concerned about what God might think of the United States after Secretary of State John Kerry announced plans to send scientists to Uganda "to help them understand homosexuality."

He said Republicans, conservatives, and church leaders were not confronting the issue of homosexuality and were "losing the issue". He stated, "We had such a great country in the relatively recent past. Now America, supposed to be the light of the world, instead we're the light going in the opposite direction.”

Kwanzaa

Grothman claimed, in a December 2012 press release, that Kwanzaa is not a real holiday. He claimed, "Of course, almost no black people today care about Kwanzaa—just white left-wingers who try to shove this down black people's throats in an effort to divide Americans."

He released a statement opposing a Kwanzaa holiday, stating that we should "treat Kwanzaa with the contempt it deserves before it becomes a permanent part of our culture."

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Grothman has argued that Martin Luther King, Jr. Day should not be a state employee holiday, calling the day off "an insult to all the other taxpayers around the state." He has expressed doubts that "state workers would be 'checking out DVDs or reading books' about King and would probably just be out shopping or watching television instead."

Municipal water chlorination

He was a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 19 (2011), which removes the requirement of mandatory chlorination of groundwater in municipal water systems. The bill was supported by the League of Wisconsin Municipalities.

Raw milk

Grothman is a vocal supporter of decriminalizing raw milk sales.

Single parenthood

In February 2012, Grothman introduced Senate Bill 507, which would amend Wisconsin statutes to emphasize single parenthood as a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect. Politifact investigated his claim that kids living with a parent and parent's partner are "20 times" more likely to be sexually abused, and rated it True.

Grothman claimed that modern women were choosing to have children out of wedlock and "we should educate women that this is a mistake."

He also sponsored State Bill 202, which would have repealed the Equal Pay Enforcement Act, saying that the "Left and the social welfare establishment want children born out of wedlock because they are far more likely to be dependent on the government."

Smoking

Grothman opposed a bill that would increase funding for anti-smoking programs from $10 to $30 million. He believes that anti-smoking campaigns do not work, and are no longer necessary, writing "Everybody knows you're not supposed to smoke!." He also voted against the ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and other small business that became effective in July 2010. After the bill was passed, he introduced new legislation to allow guests to smoke in hotel rooms.. He also co-sponsored a bill to exempt electronic cigarettes from the smoking ban.

Welfare reform

In June 2013, Grothman advocated for reforming welfare in Wisconsin. He advocated requiring nondisabled single adults to either work twenty hours per week, or attend twenty hours of job training per week to continue receiving FoodShare benefits.

Public image

In October 2016, Grothman was featured in the "People Who Somehow Got Elected" segment on HBO's program Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The segment made reference to Grothman's controversial comments about women and race during his time as an elected official.

Awards and recognition

Personal life

Grothman has never been married and has no children.