Herb Kohl

Herb Kohl

Democratic Party

Prior offices

U.S. Senate Wisconsin

Successor: Tammy Baldwin

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Education

Bachelor's

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Graduate

Harvard School of Business Administration

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Army Reserve

Years of service

1958 - 1964

Herbert H. "Herb" Kohl (b. February 7, 1935) was a Democratic member of the U.S. Senate from the state of Wisconsin. Kohl served in the Senate from 1988-2013. He did not seek re-election in 2012.^[1]

Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Kohl was a "rank-and-file Democrat."^[2]

Biography

After earning his bachelor's from the University of Wisconsin, Kohl earned his MBA from Harvard. He helped build his family-owned Kohl Corporation and was president from 1970 to 1979.^[3] He also owned the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team.^[4]

Career

• 1989-2013: U.S senator from Wisconsin
• 1975-1977: Wisconsin State Democratic Party chairman

Committee assignments

2011-2012

Kohl was a member of the following Senate committees^[3]:

• Appropriations Committee
  • Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman
• Judiciary Committee
  • Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights
• Banking Committee
• Special Committee on Aging Chairman

Issues

Senate Judiciary Committee

Senator Kohl served on the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1989-2013. In 2009, Senator Kohl was named Vice Chairman of the Committee when the late Edward Kennedy stepped down and long time Senate Judiciary Committee member Joe Biden was elected Vice President of the United States. Before his promotion to Vice-Chairman, Senator Kohl rated fourth in seniority on the committee.

Senator Kohl was also the Chairman on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights.^[5]

Sirius/XM Merger deal

Senator Kohl was a vocal critic of the merger of satellite radio giants Sirius and XM in 2007. The Senator was opposed to the merger, claiming that satellite radio was its own market and not part of a larger entertainment market. The senator rebutted claims from industry executives who believe that satellite radio's place in the market is not a stand alone market. Satellite radio executives claimed that if no merger happened, no new satellite radio technologies could be spearheaded.

Kohl argued that since there is no substitute product for satellite radio customers would be subject to sharp price increases should the merger occur. In 2007, the Senator pressed the Federal Communications Commission and the United States Department of Justice to investigate the merger deal on possible antitrust violations.^[6]

Fiscal Cliff

Kohl voted for the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. The bill was passed in the Senate by an 89 - 8 vote on January 1, 2013.^[7]

Elections

2012

See also: United States Senate elections in Wisconsin, 2012

Kohl did not seek re-election in 2012. Rep. Tammy Baldwin defeated Tommy Thompson (R), Nimrod Allen III (I), and Joseph Kexel (L) in the general election.

2006

On November 7, 2006, Kohl won re-election to the U.S. Senate, defeating Robert Gerald Lorge (R), Ben J. Glatzel (I), and Rae Vogeler (Green).^[8]

U.S. Senate, Wisconsin, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Herb Kohl Incumbent	67.3%	1,439,214
	Republican	Robert Gerald Lorge	29.5%	630,299
	Independent	Ben J. Glatzel	1.2%	25,096
	Green	Rae Vogeler	2%	42,434
	None	Scattering	0.1%	1,254
Total Votes				2,138,297

Campaign finance summary

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Analysis

Congressional staff salaries

See also: Staff salaries of United States Senators and Representatives

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Kohl paid his congressional staff a total of $2,658,967 in 2011. He ranked 23rd on the list of the lowest paid Democratic senatorial staff salaries and ranked 60th overall of the lowest paid senatorial staff salaries in 2011. Overall, Wisconsin ranked 24th in average salary for senatorial staff. The average U.S. Senate congressional staff was paid $2,529,141.70 in fiscal year 2011.^[9]

Net worth

See also: Changes in Net Worth of U.S. Senators and Representatives (Personal Gain Index) and Net worth of United States Senators and Representatives

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org, Kohl's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $88,228,026 and $258,847,994. That averages to $173,538,010, which is higher than the average net worth of Democratic senators in 2010 of $19,383,524.^[10]

National Journal vote ratings

2011

See also: National Journal vote ratings

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of Congress voted in the previous year. Kohl ranked 36th in the liberal rankings in 2011.^[11]

Political positions

Voting with party

November 2011

Kohl voted with the Democratic Party 92.0 percent of the time, which ranked 35 among the 51 Senate Democratic members as of November 2011.^[12]

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term Herb + Kohl + Wisconsin + Senate

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.

External links

Footnotes

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