Kathleen Falk

Kathleen Falk (born 1951) is the County Executive for Dane County, Wisconsin. She was the 2006 Democratic nominee for the office of Attorney General of Wisconsin.

Personal life

Falk was born in Milwaukee, grew up in Waukesha County and has lived in Madison, Wisconsin since 1973. She earned a B.A. in philosophy from Stanford University in 1973, and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1976. She resides in Madison with her husband, former State Representative Peter Bock (D-Milwaukee), and a 24-year old son, Eric. She is an avid baseball fan, bicyclist, and hunter.

Professional Life

From 1977 to 1983, Falk was the co-director and general counsel of Wisconsin's Environmental Decade, a statewide nonprofit citizens' environmental protection organization. In this capacity, Falk won nationally significant litigation to protect citizens' rights in utility rate cases.

Falk served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Wisconsin Department of Justice from 1983 to 1997, where she was responsible for enforcing environmental law. From 1983 to 1995, she also served as Wisconsin's Public Intervenor, as which she was statutorily authorized to take a range of legal actions to protect the public's rights in natural resources. Republican Governor Tommy Thompson eliminated this position from the budget, mostly due to complaints from state Republicans over Falk's shortcomings in this capacity.

In 1997, Falk successfully ran for Dane County Executive as a Democrat. She was re-elected in 2001 and 2005. With a population of 453,000, Dane is Wisconsin's second largest county; its county seat is Madison, home to the State Capitol and the famous University of Wisconsin. Falk has focused on initiatives to: reduce sprawl and improve water quality; serve the needs of kids, families and the elderly so they can succeed; and to be "smart on crime" by using effective drug treatment strategies with repeat, non-violent offenders. Falk has earned Dane County a top AAA bond rating for management of the county's $413 million budget.

In 2002, Falk was a candidate for Governor in the Democratic primary, and would have been the first female major party candidate for Governor in Wisconsin history. Despite a late campaign surge, she placed third in a three way race behind then-Attorney General Jim Doyle, and then-U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett (D-Milwaukee). Falk significantly raised her statewide profile in her campaign.

In November 2005, Falk announced she would challenge current Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager for the Democratic nomination for that office. In the primary in 2006, Falk defeated Lautenschlager by a margin of 53% to 47%.

On November 7, 2006, Falk was narrowly defeated in the race by Republican J.B. Van Hollen, a former U.S. Attorney and former Ashland County district attorney. The margin of victory was 9,000 votes out of over 2.1 million votes cast. As of November 21, 2006, Falk conceded to her opponent.

Electoral history

*2006 Race for Attorney General
**J.B. Van Hollen (R), 50% (Won)
**Kathleen Falk (D), 50% (Lost)

*2006 Race for Attorney General - Democratic Primary
**Kathleen Falk (D), 53%
**Peg Lautenschlager (D) (inc.), 47%

*2002 Race for Governor - Democratic Primary
**Jim Doyle (D), 38%
**Tom Barrett (D), 34%
**Kathleen Falk (D), 27%

External links

* [http://www.countyofdane.com/exec/execbio.htm Dane County bio]
* [http://www.kathleenfalk.com/ Falk for Attorney General] website