David Cullen to run for Milwaukee County Treasurer and I couldn’t be more underwhelmed

I’m so sick of seeing the same career politicians recycled in and out of different elected offices.

Milwaukee County Supervisor David Cullen announced today that he will run for Milwaukee County Treasurer. The election will be held on November 4th, 2014. If a primary is necessary it will take place on August 12, 2014.

Cullen has been endorsed by elected officials and community leaders throughout Milwaukee County, including Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

Currently, Supervisor Cullen co-chairs the County’s Finance, Personnel and Audit Committee. In that role, he was instrumental in passing a county budget which included a property tax levy freeze.

“It is important to balance the need for services with the public’s ability to pay. Our budget does that by protecting core services while holding the line on taxes. If elected, I will bring that same commitment to the Treasurer’s Office,” Cullen said.

Cullen is a former Democratic state legislator, having represented parts of Wauwatosa, Milwaukee and the Village of West Milwaukee in the State Legislature. Among his committee assignments in the State Assembly, he served as Chairman of the Assembly Insurance Committee and as a member of the Joint Committee on Audit.

An attorney, Cullen also represents Wisconsin on the National Commission on Uniform State Laws. The Commission consists of attorneys and law professors throughout the nation who meet annually to craft model legislation which can be considered by state legislatures to make commerce easier, more uniform, and more efficient.

Cullen is a homeowner and lifelong resident of Milwaukee. He is a graduate of John Marshall High School in Milwaukee, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Marquette University Law School. He and his wife, Julie, have two children who have both graduated from Rufus King High School.

It’s worth noting that Cullen has been in various elected offices virtually all of his adult life, having been first elected to the Milwaukee School Board in 1983, when he was just 23 years old.

Cullen was elected to his current position as a Milwaukee County Supervisor in 2012 after he decided not to run for reelection to the State Assembly after his district was altered by redistricting. Cullen’s district was redistricted in such a manner that his reelection would have been challenging, and rather than risk losing, he instead chose to take a safer route and run for an open seat on the County Board.

Call me a cynic, but I can’t help but wonder if Cullen’s decision to run for Milwaukee County Treasurer is motivated in large part out of a desire to hold on to a paycheck, given that County Supervisors are due to become part-time in the not too distant future.

Share:

Related Articles

7 thoughts on “David Cullen to run for Milwaukee County Treasurer and I couldn’t be more underwhelmed

    1. Precisely.

      And let’s not forget Marina Dimitrijevic running for State Assembly as well. In Marina’s case, she’s made it clear she’ll keep both jobs if she’s elected to the Assembly.

  1. When there’s no admonishment from anyone for doing it, it’s not surprising when people continue to do it. Cullen held an Assembly seat and his Supervisor seat (and salaries) for the majority of a year at the same time, doing an equally underwhelming job in both roles. Everyone looked the other way and shrugged their shoulders.

    You get what you put up with.

    1. Agreed.

      The point of this blog post was to start pointing a spotlight on how dysfunctional our County Board can be. It strikes me as a group of individuals more interested in self-preservation than they are about working for the good of taxpayers.

  2. Why is it that when a county board member runs for higher office it is about salary and being a career politician, but when someone else does it then it is about public service? Your obsession with everything to do with the county board is weird.

    1. I’m not obsessed with the County Board; I’m simply interested in the inner workings of a group that represents me.

      And while you’ve busied yourself attacking me, you’ve done nothing to debunk my point.

      1. Because you just offered an opinion with no evidence. The fact remains that anytime a county board member decides to run for higher office you claim it is for the salary and if someone else runs for higher office it is for altruistic reasons.

Comments are closed.