Stephen Nass
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Stephen L. Nass (born October 7, 1952) is an American politician from
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
. A
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, he has been a member of the
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 ...
since 2015, and was a member of 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, ...
from 1991 to 2015.


Early life and education

Nass was born in
Whitewater, Wisconsin Whitewater is a city located in Walworth and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located near the southern portion of the Kettle Moraine State Forest, Whitewater is the home of the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater. As of the 2 ...
on October 7, 1952.Nass, Stephen L. 1952
Wisconsin Historical Society.
He graduated from Whitewater High School in 1978 and receiving a B.S. from the
University of Wisconsin–Whitewater The University of Wisconsin–Whitewater (UW–Whitewater) is a public university in Whitewater, Wisconsin. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System. Student enrollment in the 2014–2015 academic year was more than 12,000. The universit ...
in 1978. He received a M.S. Ed. in school business management from UW-Whitewater in 1990.


Military and business career

Nass was a member of the
Wisconsin Air National Guard The Wisconsin Air National Guard (WI ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Wisconsin, United States of America. It is, along with the Wisconsin Army National Guard, an element of the Wisconsin National Guard. As state militia units, the unit ...
and deployed in
Operation Desert Shield The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
and
Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
. According to his legislative biography, he retired as a chief master sergeant, owns a rental property business, and formerly was a payroll benefits analyst.


Political career

Nass was a member of the Whitewater City Council from 1977 to 1981 and a member of the UW-Whitewater Board of Visitors from 1979 to 1989. He was first elected to 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, ...
in 1990, from the 31st Assembly District, and was thereafter reelected.Senator Stephen L. Nass: Senate District 11
Wisconsin State Legislature.
He remained a member of the Assembly until 2014, when he was elected to the
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 ...
from the 11th District. Nass is one of the Senate's most conservative members.Scott Bauer
Wisconsin Assembly passes COVID-19 bill Senate GOP opposes
Associated Press (January 7, 2021).
Todd Richmond
GOP resurrects bill to make English official language
Associated Press (January 6, 2020).
Nass has become known for his adversarial relationship with the University of Wisconsin System,Cara Lombardo
Student guilty of black church arsons wants pro-white group
Associated Press (January 27, 2017).
which he accuses of "liberal indoctrination."Todd Richmond
Regent leader selects Tommy Thompson as interim UW president
Associated Press (June 19, 2020).
That position that assumed greater significance in 2007–08, when Nass was chair of the Assembly's Colleges and Universities Committee, which oversees the entire UW System, and 2010, when Nass regained control of the committee (after Republicans regained a majority of the state Senate). In 2007, Nass worked to cut funds for specific University of Wisconsin programs that he disagreed with philosophically, including the Havens Wright Center for Social Justice in UW–Madison's
sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
department and the UW-Extension School For Workers, saying that they are "too far to the left."
Paul Soglin Paul R. Soglin (born April 22, 1945) is an American politician and former three-time Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin, having served a total of 22 years in that office between 1973 and 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a candidate for Gov ...
, the mayor of
Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...
, responded by calling Nass "the outlaw chairman of an Assembly committee that is designed to destroy the University of Wisconsin System." In 2017, Nass accused UW of waging a "war on men" with an initiative about
masculinity Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...
, and criticized a course offered by UW on
white privilege White privilege, or white skin privilege, is the societal privilege that benefits white people over non-white people in some societies, particularly if they are otherwise under the same social, political, or economic circumstances. With roots ...
. By 2020, Nass was the vice chair of the universities committee. In 2010, Nass said he would introduce legislation banning pavement markers designed to minimize conflicts between bicyclists and motorists. Nass accused "liberal extremists in Madison who hate cars and think everyone should bike to work" with "basically making it difficult to use an automobile." Nass's position drew a caustic response from Madison mayor
Dave Cieslewicz David J. Cieslewicz (; ; born February 17, 1959), commonly referred to as Mayor Dave during his term, is an American politician who was the mayor of Madison, Wisconsin from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Personal life and ...
, who noted that Madison is 70 miles from the district that Nass represents. "Not having been able to solve a single significant state problem (which they actually got elected to do) in their combined 37 years in office these guys now want to micromanage the city of Madison. There's a way they can do that, of course. They can give up their seats in the Legislature and run for the Madison City Council." Nass is a supporter of
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
. In 2017, Wisconsin taxpayers paid $966 to send Nass to Trump's first speech to a
joint session of Congress A joint session of the United States Congress is a gathering of members of the two chambers of the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Joint sessions can be held on a ...
, and in 2019, during the Trump's first impeachment, he accused Trump's enemies of "vile efforts to effectuate a political coup of the president." Nass has sponsored legislation to declare English the official language of Wisconsin. During the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Nass criticized public health measures put into place by Democratic Governor
Tony Evers Anthony Steven Evers (born November 5, 1951) is an American educator and politician serving as the 46th governor of Wisconsin since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as Wisconsin's Superintendent of Public Instruction from 200 ...
, and in April 2020, Nass accused the state Health Secretary,
Andrea Palm Andrea Joan Palm (born 1973) is an American government health advisor who is the United States Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Biden administration. Previously, Palm served as secretary-designee of the Wisconsin Department of ...
, of promoting "excessive levels of fear." In July 2020, after Evers issued an order requiring the wearing of face coverings in public indoor spaces to prevent the spread of the virus, Nass called the order "illegal and unnecessary" and urged the state legislature to convene an emergency session to repeal the order. During the pandemic, Nass supported the termination of Evers' emergency declarations. He also pushed to require state workers to return to physical offices, revoke funding for schools that did not hold in-person classes, restrict the power of state and local health agencies, and expand
school choice School choice is a term for education options that allow students and families to select alternatives to public schools. The most common in the United States, by both the number of programs and by the number of participating students are scho ...
programs. He introduced legislation to block the University of Wisconsin from instituting COVID-19 testing, masking and vaccination protocols on its campuses across the state.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nass, Stephen 1952 births 21st-century American politicians Living people Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly People from La Grange, Wisconsin People from Whitewater, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Whitewater alumni Wisconsin city council members Republican Party Wisconsin state senators