Gordon Hintz
Gordon N. Hintz (born November 29, 1973) is an American public servant and politician who served as the Democratic Minority Leader in the Wisconsin State *embly. He has been a member of the *embly for seven terms, first elected in 2006, representing the 54th *embly District—the city of Oshkosh.
Contents
- 1 Early life and career
- 2 Legislative career
- 3 Controversies
- 4 Other
- 5 Electoral history
- 6 References
- 7 External links
Early life and career
Hintz was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and graduated from Oshkosh North High School in 1992. He obtained a B.A. from Hamline University, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and went on to earn his Masters of Public Administration from the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Prior to serving in the Legislature, Hintz worked in government at the federal, state, and local levels. Hintz worked on the 1996 U.S. Senate campaign of Paul Wellstone before going to work for U.S. Senator Herb Kohl and former U.S. Representative Jay W. Johnson as a Legislative Staff *istant in Washington, D.C. Hintz also served as a Research *istant for Governor Tommy Thompson's Commission on State and Local Partnerships for the 21st Century (Kettl Commission) and worked as a Management *istant and Budget *yst for the City of Long Beach, California.
Legislative career
Hintz first ran for the Wisconsin State *embly in 2004, running against in*bent Republican Gregg Underheim. He fell 2,000 votes short in the general election that year, with Wisconsin Green Party candidate Tony Palmeri taking nearly 9% of the vote. Underheim opted not to seek re-election in 2006, and Hintz made another attempt, this time winning the seat with 62% of the vote in a head-to-head race against Republican Julie Pung Leschke.
In the 2008 United States presidential election, he was chosen as one of Wisconsin's ten presidential electors for then-Senator Barack Obama.
During the 2011 Wisconsin protests on February 18, 2011, Hintz delivered an imp*ioned and widely commented on speech against Republican Governor Scott Walker's plan to strip public unions of collective bargaining rights.
In September 2017, after 10 years in the *embly, Hintz was elected by the Democratic caucus to serve as their next floor leader, following Representative Peter Barca's announcement that he would stand down from the role.
On March 3, 2022, he announced that he would not seek re-election.
Controversies
In the midst of the 2011 protests, on February 10, 2011, Hintz was ticketed by police for sexual misconduct at Heavenly Touch M*age Parlor in Appleton, Wisconsin. Police had been investigating the business because it was suspected of pros*ution. Hintz pleaded no contest to sexual misconduct and paid a fine of $2,032, according to a news report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He said he made "a bad decision" that "was out of character" and apologized for disappointing his family, friends, and community. He also sought to refocus attention on the important issues then facing the state, saying "My concern right now is that my personal situation is distracting from the much more important issue facing our state. We have tens of thousands of working people at the Capitol every day, and that must remain our focus."
Hintz publicly apologized on February 28, 2011, for comments directed at fellow legislator, Republican State Representative Michelle Litjens during a heated backroom debate, after Republicans allegedly broke procedural rules to end a 58-hour debate on the contentious Budget Repair Bill. Litjens said she did not take the comments personally and thought they were directed at all Republicans but thought he should be disciplined by the *embly.
Hintz was involved in an expletive laced Facebook exchange on May 28, 2019, with a former friend in both public and private messages that were later provided to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by the friend and made public. Hintz apologized, stating, "But I need to move on and let it go, and say I'm sorry today happened".
Other
Hintz placed second in the 2003 National Air Guitar championships under the pseudonym, "Krye Tuff". He appears in the do*entary Air Guitar Nation about the 2003 championships.
Electoral history
References
External links
- Representative Gordon Hintz at Wisconsin Legislature
- Gordon Hintz for State *embly official campaign website
- Gordon Hintz at Ballotpedia
- Profile at Vote Smart
- Campaign 2008 campaign contributions at Wisconsin Democracy Campaign