Congressman Tom Petri served in the Peace Corps in Somalia for two years.
Born in Marinette, Tom Petri grew up in Fond du Lac, graduated from Harvard in 1962, earned a law degree there in 1965 and then served in the Peace Corps in Somalia for two years. He was an aide in the Nixon White House in 1969 and then returned home to practice law.
After a six-year stint in the Wisconsin state senate, Petri entered a special election to succeed him GOP Rep. William Steiger who died in office in 1978.
Petri defeated Tommy Thompson (who went on to become governor of the state) in the GOP primary, taking 35 percent of the vote. Running as a government reformer he defeated Democratic state Sen. Gary Goyke with 50.4 percent of the vote in the general election.
Petri is a pragmatic, high-minded moderate Republican. His reformist approach to campaign finance and other issues sometimes puts him out of step with the more doctrinaire conservative GOP leadership.
Petri has been a proponent of the Earned Income Tax Credit for low income workers. He has drafted a campaign finance reform proposal that would allow a tax credit on up to $200 of contributions.
He also wants to level the playing field for candidates running against millionaire opponents who can pour personal funds into their own campaigns. Under Petri's proposal, a person running against a self-financed millionaire candidate would be able to raise money from individuals and a political party in excess of the normal federal limits up to the point of matching what the other candidate is spending of his or her own money.
Like many Midwestern Republicans Petri rails against federal boon-doggles and special interest subsidies. Petri has complained that sugar in the United States is twice the price of sugar on the world market because the federal government restricts imports of sugar in order to protect U.S. producers. Petri says that the import restrictions force Americans to spend $1.4 billion more than they should have to for sugar.
Petri serves on the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, where he chairs the Surface Transportation Subcommittee. He was responsible for drafting the House version of the new Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act which sets priorities for work on the nation's highways and allocates federal funds by state for road programs.
Born: May 28, 1940, Marinette, Wis.
Education: Harvard U., A.B. 1962; J.D. 1965
Military Service: None listed
Occupation: Lawyer
Family: Wife, Anne Neal; one child
Religion: Lutheran
Political Career: White House aide, 1969-70; Wis. Senate, 1973-79;
Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, 1974
Committees: Education & Workforce Employer-Employee Relations; Post-secondary Education, Training & Life-Long Learning Transportation & Infrastructure Surface Transportation (chairman); Water Resources & Environment
The district:
Located in the state's central region, the 6th congressional district stretches across most of the state, from the shore of Lake Michigan in the east to Monroe County in the west. The largest cities here are Fond du Lac, Manitowac, and Oshkosh.
Large employers in the district include paper goods manufacturer Kimberly-Clark, Oshkosh B'Gosh clothing, and laundry machine manufacturer Speed Queen.
The Republican Party was founded here in Ripon in 1854. Today the district remains a loyal Republican stronghold.
In presidential politics the 6th district voted for George Bush over Bill Clinton in 1992, 41 percent to 34 percent, with Ross Perot taking 25 percent of the vote.
But four years later, Clinton defeated Bob Dole here, 45 percent to 41 percent, with Perot taking 12 percent of the vote.
