G. Spencer Coggs (born August 6, 1949) is an

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public administrator and Democratic politician. He is the current

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

City Treasurer The municipal treasurer is a position of responsibility for a municipality according to the locally prevailing laws. The treasurer of a public agency is elected Wisconsin State Senate The Wisconsin Senate is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Together with the larger Wisconsin State Assembly they constitute the legislative branch of the state of Wisconsin. The powers of the Wisconsin Senate are modeled after t ...

and 20 years in the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

, representing Milwaukee's west side.

Early life, education and career

Coggs was a City of

health officer (and Chief Steward of his

AFSCME The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is the largest trade union of public employees in the United States. It represents 1.3 million public sector employees and retirees, including health care workers, correcti ...

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

local),

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and industrial

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Wisconsin legislature

Coggs was elected to the

for what was then 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 A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

and reelected in 2004 and 2008. He sat on the Committee on Housing and Financial Institutions, and Joint Committee for Review of Criminal Penalties. 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 A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...

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 The lieutenant governor of Wisconsin is the first person in the line of succession of Wisconsin's executive branch, thus serving as governor in the event of the death, resignation, removal, impeachment, absence from the state, or incapacity due to ...

in 2010. (Current Lt. Gov.

Barbara Lawton Barbara Lawton (born July 5, 1951) is an American businesswoman and politician from Green Bay, Wisconsin who is the President and CEO of Americans for Campaign Reform. A member of the Democratic Party, Lawton was the 43rd Lieutenant Governor ...

was not seeking a third term.) 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. In February 2012, Coggs was one of two State Senators (the other being fellow Democrat

Tim Carpenter Timothy W. Carpenter (born February 24, 1960) is an American politician and Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Senate, representing the 3rd Senate district since 2003. He previously served 18 years in the Wisconsin State Assembly (1985&n ...

) to win a place on the ballot for Milwaukee City

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

in the Spring 2012 election, defeating former State Treasurer

Dawn Marie Sass Dawn Marie Sass (born September 18, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 33rd State Treasurer of Wisconsin from 2007 to 2011. She was the third female Treasurer in Wisconsin's history. Early life and education Born in Milwaukee, W ...

(like Coggs, a former AFSCME activist) and

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

Rick Kissell in the non-partisan primary. Coggs polled 13,559 votes; Carpenter 12,880; Sass 5,089 and Kissell 2,241. In the general election, Coggs won with 35,096 votes to Carpenter's 34,293. 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. Two incumbent Assembly Democrats, his cousin Elizabeth Coggs and

Sandy Pasch Sandra "Sandy" Pasch ('' née'' Kawczynski; born May 19, 1954) is an American nurse and Democratic politician. She served six years in the Wisconsin State Assembly (2009–2015), representing north-central Milwaukee County. Background ...

, had already announced that they would be running for the vacant seat (although Pasch later changed her mind).Marley, Patrick. "Elizabeth Coggs to seek Senate seat her cousin is vacating" All Politics Blog
''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' Online; April 17, 2012. In the end, he was succeeded in the Senate by another Democrat,

Nikiya Harris Nikiya Q. Dodd, formerly Nikiya Harris (born February 22, 1975) is a Wisconsin educator and politician who formerly served as a County Supervisor of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin from 2010 through 2012, and as a Democratic member of the Wisconsin ...

References

External links

Senator Spencer Coggs
at the

Wisconsin State Legislature The Wisconsin Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house, Wisconsin State Senate, and the lower Wisconsin State Assembly, both of which have had Republ ...

constituency site
*
6th Senate District, Senator Coggs
in the

Wisconsin Blue Book The ''Wisconsin Blue Book'' is a biennial publication of the Wisconsin's Legislative Reference Bureau. The ''Blue Book'' is an almanac containing information on the government, economics, demographics, geography and history of the state of Wisc ...

(2005–2006)
Campaign 2008
campaign contributions at ''Wisconsin Democracy Campaign'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coggs, Spencer 1949 births African-American state legislators in Wisconsin City and town treasurers in the United States Living people Milwaukee Area Technical College alumni Politicians from Milwaukee University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee alumni Democratic Party Wisconsin state senators 21st-century American politicians American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees people 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly