State senators of both parties held leadership caucuses Tuesday morning and chose unexpected lawmakers to lead them into the battles of the next legislative session.
Republicans, who control the Senate 19 to 14, selected Sen. Dale Schultz, a moderate from Richland Center who recently lost a federal congressional race to Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse.
The Democrats threw their support to Sen. Judy Robson, a Beloit nurse who will be the first woman to ever head her party in the Senate.
Coming in to the caucus many expected the senate GOP to hand leadership reigns to the more conservative Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, who had been acting as party head since former majority leader Mary Panzer failed to win a contested primary election.
At a press conference Tuesday, Schultz presented himself as a unifier and was reluctant to stress his legislative agenda. He also introduced Fitzgerald as co-chair of the joint finance committee and announced Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, would draft legislation for the controversial Taxpayer's Bill of Rights.
\This has been more of a slogan in the past than it has been a set of concrete proposals,"" Schultz said of the law that would prohibit legislators from raising taxes.
""I would like to make it clear that I am committed to holding hearings on TABOR as soon as possible,"" he said.
Robson said she would rally her party to stop TABOR because the law would handicap legislators and prevent necessary funds from flowing to programs like public education and health care.
Robson's appointment as minority leader also came as a surprise because she did not begin campaigning for the position until Tuesday.
""I had been thinking about it on and off, and then many of my colleagues started calling me and urging me to run [Monday] night. I talked about it with my friends and family and then I woke up and said 'Yep, I'm going to do it,'"" Robson said.
Robson began phoning Senate Democrats before the morning caucus and won on the second ballot, said state Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison.
At the press conference, Schultz said a major Senate challenge would be passing a budget in the face of a state deficit that may top a billion dollars. That would not prevent him, however, from pressing recent party issues like TABOR, a concealed carry weapons law and an anti-gay marriage amendment.
""This is a professional legislature and I think people have a right to expect that we will be productive,"" Schultz said.
""It looks like the Republicans want to go back to God, guns and gays again, but the major issue, of course, will be the budget,"" Risser said. ""That will be the toughest issue.""
There were fewer surprises in the state Assembly caucuses where both parties elected the same officials to the top post. Once again, Speaker John Guard, R-Peshtigo, will lead Assembly Republicans, while Rep. Jim Kreuser, D-Kenosha, will continue to lead Democrats.
