Mark Neumann
Mark W. Neumann (born
February 27,
1954) is an
American politician and former
Congressman from the
state of
Wisconsin.
Neumann was born in
East Troy, Wisconsin. He has been married to Sue Neumann since
1973. The couple has five children: Keith, Katharine, Kyle, Kevin and Kirsten. He and his wife are devoutly
Lutheran. As of
2005, Neumann ran a real estate development firm, Neumann Enterprises Inc. He lives in
Nashotah, Wisconsin. His three youngest children live in Miami, Florida.
Neumann graduated from the
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in
1975, and from the
University of Wisconsin-River Falls in
1977 with a Master of Science degree. He worked as a math teacher and started a business building homes.
Neumann decided to run for the
House of Representatives as a
Republican in
1992. He faced Congressman
Les Aspin and lost by a large margin, while spending $700,000. Aspin was appointed
Secretary of Defense by
President Clinton in
1993 and Neumann ran in a special election for the seat, losing narrowly to
Peter Barca. He was persuaded to run again in
1994 and this time, he defeated Barca by 1,120 votes.
Neumann was assigned to the powerful
Appropriations committee. This assignment did not work out, as Neumann disapproved of pork-barrel projects, even for his own district. Neumann also wrote his own version of the budget which would produce a
balanced budget by
1999.
Bob Livingston kicked him off of the Appropriations committee after he proposed an amendment requiring congressional approval of troop deployment to
Bosnia. Neumann won re-election by 4,260 votes in a close
1996 race against
Lydia Spottswood.
Neumann voted present in the election for
Speaker of the House in
1997, instead of voting for
Newt Gingrich.
In September
1997, Neumann announced his candidacy for the
United States Senate against
Russell Feingold. Both candidates had similar views on the budget surplus, although Neumann was for banning
partial-birth abortion while Feingold was against a ban. Both candidates limited themselves to $4 million in campaign spending, although outside groups spent a significant amount on behalf of both candidates. Feingold defeated Neumann by a slim 2% margin in the election. According to the
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Neumann had a 30,000 vote margin of victory in the combined total of 71 of the 72 Wisconsin counties, but was overwhelmed by a 68,000 vote margin in
Milwaukee County. [
1]
He stayed out of the
2004 Senate campaign, instead supporting former Lt. Governor
Margaret Farrow, who did not run.
Despite speculation that Neumann might run against
Senator Herb Kohl or
Governor Jim Doyle, he did not choose to seek elective office during the 2006 election cycle.
*
JSOnline Profile during 1998 Senate race
