George Petak served five and a half years in the Wisconsin Senate, representing Wisconsin's 21st Senate district from 1991 until he was recalled from office in June 1996.
13 Facts About George Petak
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George Petak was the first Wisconsin state legislator to be removed from office by recall election; he was recalled over his decisive vote in favor of the sales tax plan which funded construction of Miller Park.
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George Petak was hired by Ametek's Lamb Electric division in 1973 and worked in several administrative positions.
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In 1983, George Petak was elected to the Racine Unified School Board.
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George Petak won re-election in 1994, but ran into controversy in October 1995, when he changed his vote on a funding bill for the Miller Park stadium.
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George Petak had promised his constituents that he would vote against the bill, but changed his mind based on the belief that the Brewers would leave Wisconsin if a new stadium wasn't built.
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George Petak's deciding vote supported a 0.1 percent sales tax increase for the five counties in the proposed stadium's vicinity, including George Petak's home county, Racine.
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George Petak faced immediate outrage in his home district, and local Democrats were energized to collect signatures for a recall petition.
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Nine months after his vote on the stadium tax, George Petak became the first Wisconsin state legislator to be removed from office in a recall election, when he was defeated by Democratic State Representative Kimberly Plache.
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George Petak had served on WHEDA's board of directors for six years and had oversight of WHEDA while he was Chairman of the Senate Business, Economic Development and Urban Affairs Committee.
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George Petak briefly flirted with a run for Congress in 1998, after 1st Congressional District incumbent Mark Neumann decided to run for US Senate instead of seeking re-election.
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George Petak ultimately chose not to run and accused his would-be Republican primary opponent, future-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Paul Ryan, of exploiting the stadium tax controversy.
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George Petak instead went into government affairs consulting in Madison, Wisconsin and started his own consulting business in 2009.