Senate President Michael Ellis, R-Neenah, announced his retirement from the state Legislature in a statement Friday.
Ellis said in the statement the current political environment is too polarized for government to run effectively, adding press harassment of his wife contributed to his decision not to seek re-election.
“I see that compromise is not valued in today’s Capitol environment, and that means I don’t fit in any more,” Ellis said in the statement. “I’m a senator from a different era, and I value my integrity too much to compromise it any more.”
Ellis came under fire earlier this week after a secretly-recorded video showed Ellis discussing plans to create an illegal political action committee to target his opponent.
Ellis’s retirement leaves Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay, as the longest serving Republican legislator in the state Senate. Pending elections this fall, he could become the president of a Republican-controlled Senate.
