Outspoken, firebrand lawmaker Bob Gannon dies at 58
MADISON - Rep. Bob Gannon, the outspoken conservative Republican from West Bend whose booming rhetoric and shaved head marked him as a singular figure, has died.
Gannon, 58, was found dead in his car Tuesday of natural causes after his wife became worried because he hadn’t shown up at his home, said Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R-Kaukauna).
On Wednesday, GOP leaders like Steineke praised Gannon, a man whose vote they knew they couldn’t count on, not if he didn’t like their bill. Gannon had a “zealous passion,” Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Tyler August said.
“He was a true champion and advocate of the conservative movement. Bob’s candor and principled conviction will be missed,” August said.
One of 10 children raised by a factory worker and a homemaker, Gannon never received a college degree. But West Bend seemingly does not have a civic association that was not at one time led by Gannon, an insurance agent and rental property owner.
He served as president of the West Bend Jaycees, the Washington County Youth Hockey Association, the West Bend Chamber of Commerce and the West Bend Sunrise Rotary and also was a former vice president of West Bend Economic Development and a board member of Family Promise of Washington County. He also attended the Still Waters United Methodist Church.
Gannon was elected to the Assembly in 2014 and quickly made a name for himself for being willing to buck not only liberals but also community groups and his own Republican leaders.
The conservative lawmaker said he would step away from the Sunrise Rotary after the international organization banned clubs from sponsorships “that support the use of harmful products” such as guns.
A lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, Gannon carried a small pistol in the state Capitol.
But it was his rhetoric — and his votes — that went bang.
Gannon voted against the GOP state budget last month and against a Republican bill to require the expulsion of students who repeatedly disrupt events at University of Wisconsin campuses, saying that put too much of the responsibility on students and too little on campus officials.
“I’m afraid it’s going to intimidate students into silence — conservative students into silence,” Gannon said.
This summer, Democrats called for changes at the state’s juvenile prison, Lincoln Hills School for Boys, which is under criminal investigation and a federal judge’s order to reduce its use of solitary confinement, pepper spray and restraints. Gannon dismissed the criticism, saying the institution served a purpose.
“When was the last time you heard of a young thug carjacking granny at gunpoint when they were incarcerated at Lincoln Hills?” he asked during one public hearing.
In January 2016, Gannon put out a news release criticizing crime and unemployment in Milwaukee called “Murder, Mayhem and Jobs.”
That led to a heated floor debate with Democrats and an apology from Gannon after he made an obscene gesture to then Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca of Kenosha.
But aside from that incident, Gannon remained bracingly unapologetic about his style.
“So, I’m not supposed to use the facts of the matter? If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m not going to say something to make you feel better as a member of my committee,” Gannon told the Journal Sentinel in February.
State Sen. Duey Strobel (R-Cedarburg) said in a statement: “Bob wore his passion on his sleeve. Rarely did a room of constituents not know where Bob stood on any issue.”