Ellis remembered as ‘big thinker’
Former state senator, 77, spent 4 decades in politics
NEENAH - Former state senator Michael Ellis, an influential figure in state and Neenah politics for four decades, has died.
Mark Ellis, his brother, confirmed that he died Friday morning at age 77.
“The public that knows Mike knows he was not so much a politician, he was just Mike,” Mark Ellis said. “And by that I mean, right is right, wrong is wrong. And if he disagreed with either party, he would be vocal, and so that meant that sometimes even his own party was not happy with him.”
He remembered his brother as a downto-earth legislator who did his homework before coming to a conclusion and worked across the political aisle. He first ran for Neenah City Council in 1969, kicking off a decades-long tenure in public service, Mark Ellis said.
A Republican from Neenah, Michael Ellis spent 44 years in the Legislature — 12 in the Assembly and 32 in the Senate. He held stints as Senate majority leader, minority leader and president.
U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman called Ellis “an independent voice in an occupation short of independent voices.”
Grothman teamed up with Ellis when the two were in the state Senate and their fellow Republicans resisted their attempts to tighten payday lending regulations.
“I can’t think of an ally you wanted more in the state Senate than Mike Ellis because he was fearless, never intimidated by other politicians or by high-priced lobbyists,” Grothman said.
Wearing dark aviator glasses whether inside or outside, Ellis was as comfortable in his Senate office and the halls of the Capitol as he was at the Avenue Bar in Madison.
As a senator, Ellis was instrumental in putting limits on how much school districts could raise in property taxes.
A longtime champion of campaign finance reform, Ellis was a key force behind the creation of the Government Accountability Board, an agency meant to strongly enforce campaign finance laws. The board’s critics argued it overreached and GOP lawmakers dissolved the board seven years after it was formed.
A budget hawk, Ellis and Republican Sen. Rob Cowles of Allouez coined the term “structural deficit” in the 1990s and established a way to monitor the long-term effects of budget decisions.
That approach helped lawmakers from both parties see the consequences of their financial decisions. A former high school math teacher, Ellis kept a chalkboard in his office for sketching out budget ideas.
“He cared very much about doing something about deficits and government spending. You look around now and that’s kind of a rare commodity these days,” said former GOP Sen. Dale Schultz of Richland Center.
Ellis was known for his spitfire personality as much as his policy views. He relished teasing lawmakers and reporters.
//Ellis usually got along with Democrats, but clashed with them at times, such as when he banged his gavel as Senate president so hard in 2013 that it broke during a debate over abortion restrictions.
He sought re-election in 2014, but dropped his bid and announced his retirement plans after a secretly recorded video was released showing Ellis in a bar talking about setting up an illegal campaign group to attack his opponent.
At the time, he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he was leaving office in part because he was frustrated by how polarized the Legislature had become.
“There isn’t room for independent thinking and compromise,” he said then. “There’s no room on the street anymore for people to walk down the middle of the road.”
As news spread, Republicans and Democrats alike expressed sadness at his passing and noted his deep impact on the state and the Fox Valley.
Ellis’ cause of death had not been determined, but the belief Friday was that he had died in his sleep, his brother said.
In a statement, Gov. Scott Walker called Ellis “a giant in the Legislature and a bigger-than-life personality in Wisconsin politics.” Walker praised his wit and passion, saying he will be missed.
Martha Laning, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said in a statement that Ellis was a “passionate advocate and leader for the people of the Fox Valley through and through.”