Joe Parisi


Joseph T. 'Joe' Parisi is an American politician. From Madison, Wisconsin, Parisi currently serves as Dane County Executive, having taken office on April 18, 2011, and being re-elected in 2013 after running unopposed. A Democrat, Parisi served as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from 2005 until 2011.

Background

Parisi was born in Madison, Wisconsin on October 24, 1960. He attended Middleton High School and Madison Area Technical College before earning a B.A. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But perhaps his greater achievement was being a drummer for the blues-rock band Honor Among Thieves.
He was elected as Dane County county clerk in the 1996 election, and served in that office until running for the Assembly in 2004.

Legislative service

In 2004 Parisi was elected to represent Wisconsin's 48th Assembly district. The district encompasses McFarland, Monona, the Towns of Blooming Grove and Dunn and the far eastern portion of the City of Madison. Land-use in the district ranges from high-intensity urban and heavy industrial to natural areas as well as several miles of Lake Monona shoreline. Parisi won his primary by over 2:1, and in the general election defeated Dan Long by 25,066 to 8451. He was assigned to the standing committees on aging and long-term care, on agriculture, on budget review, on corrections and the courts, and on local and urban affairs.
In 2006, he again faced Long in the general election, and defeated him by a fractionally larger margin. In 2008, he was unopposed in both the primary and general elections. In 2010, he defeated Spencer Zimmerman and Grant Gilbertson, with 20,650 for Parisi, 6929 for Zimmerman, and 893 for Gilbertson.
His work in the State Assembly focused on criminal justice, ending domestic abuse and sexual assault and workforce development. In 2014 he testified in favor of a living wage before a Senate committee that had fast-tracked legislation against it.

Back to county government

On April 5, 2011, Parisi was elected Dane County Executive. He began his two-year term on April 18, and was elected to his first four-year term in 2013. Parisi succeeded Kathleen Falk who retired in the middle of her fourth four-year term. On April 14, 2011, Parisi resigned from the Wisconsin State Assembly., and was succeeded by Chris Taylor, who was unopposed in the general election after winning a six-way Democratic primary election.