Forward for the People: The Autobiography of America’s Longest Serving Legislator by Fred A. Risser and Doug Moe
Fred A. Risser was elected in 1956, at age 29, to the Wisconsin state assembly and served in the legislature for 64 years, retiring from the state senate in 2021. During those years he introduced 240 bills that became law and found time to maintain his private law practice.
With the aid of Madison journalist Doug Moe, Risser looks back across his long career in Forward for the People. Public service was in his family tree, and he brought diverse experiences to his job. Risser joined the Navy near the close of World War II, hitchhiked across the western states, got a law degree and became a joiner when he returned to Madison. His political aptitude was such that he was soon named to the legislature’s powerful Joint Finance Committee. He insisted that its hearings be open to the public.
Risser was concerned with public health. In the ‘60s he led the charge for outlawing the sale of cigarettes to kids under 16 and in 2009, he succeeded in banning smoking in bars and restaurants. Risser insists that the Tavern League was wrong for opposing the latter measure, saying that many people who were uncomfortable in smokey rooms have become regular patrons. Risser remained stalwart as the political winds shifted. In a dress rehearsal for 2025 Washington, Gov. Scott Walker and compliant GOP legislators pushed bill after bill into law, sometimes without considering consequences. In 2011 Risser was among the 14 Democratic senators who denied quorum from their brief exile in Illinois.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Declining to seek another reelection was a “difficult decision,” he says, but acknowledged that he would have been 97 by the time his next term ended. Risser bowed out gracefully after a lifetime of arguing that Wisconsin’s motto, Forward, wasn’t just a word but an imperative.
Buy Forward for the People on Amazon here.
Paid link
