Spencer Coggs

G. Spencer Coggs
G. Spencer Coggs
	17th District (1993-2003)
Personal details
Born	August 6, 1949 (age 74); A.A.) University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (B.S.; )
Profession	health officer, politician

George Spencer Coggs (born August 6, 1949) is an

Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the current Milwaukee city treasurer, since April 2012, and previously served 10 years in the Wisconsin Senate and 20 years in the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing Milwaukee's west side. His uncle, Isaac N. Coggs, and cousin, Elizabeth M. Coggs

, also served in the Assembly.

Early life, education and career

Coggs was a City of

printer

.

Wisconsin legislature

AFSCME

organizers during campaign work for the 2008 elections

Coggs was elected to the

10th district

in 1982 and reelected until 2002. During his time in the assembly he was the Majority Caucus Vice Chairperson in 1985, 1987 and 1989.

He was elected in 2003 to the state senate in a

special election and reelected in 2004 and 2008. He sat on the Committee on Housing and Financial Institutions, and Joint Committee for Review of Criminal Penalties.^[2]

Coggs was vice president of the National Labor Caucus of State Legislators.

2011 Wisconsin protests

During the protests in Wisconsin, Coggs, along with the 13 other Democratic State Senators, fled the state to deny the State Senate a quorum on Governor Scott Walker's controversial "Budget Repair" legislation.

Running for other offices

Coggs announced December 22, 2009, that he was running for the position of Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin in 2010. (Current Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton was not seeking a third term.^[3]) On September 14, he lost the Democratic nomination in a four-way race, with fellow legislator Tom Nelson winning an absolute majority (52%) over Coggs' 21% and two other candidates with smaller percentages.^[4]^[5]

In February 2012, Coggs was one of two State Senators (the other being fellow Democrat

non-partisan primary.^[6] Coggs polled 13,559 votes; Carpenter 12,880; Sass 5,089 and Kissell 2,241.^[7] In the general election, Coggs won with 35,096 votes to Carpenter's 34,293.^[8]

After he was sworn in as Treasurer in mid-April, Coggs announced that he would not be resigning his position as Senator until a new Senator could be elected. "With us in the state Senate tied 16–16, it just makes sense for me to keep my position. If I were to leave, I'm not saying my Republican friends would cause mischief, but I don't want to give them any temptation," he stated. He said that he would donate his second salary to an as-yet-unnamed charity.

Nikiya Harris

.