Politics & Government

Honadel: 'No Regrets' About Decade in Politics

Mark Honadel reflected on his career in the state Legislature in a wide-ranging interview with Oak Creek Patch.

Mark Honadel was working in his South Milwaukee store when the phone call came. 

On the other line was a Wisconsin Republican Party official with a question: would Honadel consider running for a state Assembly seat in a special election? 

The question caught Honadel off guard, though he had always thought about entering politics. His father, Elroy, was a former mayor of Oak Creek, so he was familiar with campaigning and what holding a public office entailed.


What really got his attention, though, were the unsolicited endorsements he got from other business owners who Republicans approached about running.

"To this day what honors me is ... they said they called five or six other people, and they all said, 'Go see Mark,' " Honadel said.

But running as a Republican for the 21st Assembly District seat was a daunting task: Democrats had held the seat for more than 70 years. What's more, they were determined to keep it that way, buying television advertisements and outspending Honadel by a 3-to-1 margin. 

Ten years later, as he reflected back on that election victory and the five wins that came after, Honadel said he had "no regrets" about his decade in the state Legislature, a run that officially came to an end Monday. 

"It's been such an honor," Honadel said. "I've enjoyed every minute of it. 

"But my heart is being called back to the private sector. I'm trying to do a little bit better for my family. That's the American Dream, right?" 

Mining, interchange among accomplishments
In a wide-ranging interview with Oak Creek Patch last week, Honadel said "he was going out on top," proud of his career, accomplishments and approach to politics. 

He's long prided himself on working with people of all political beliefs, while at the same time staying true to his. That philosophy guided his years as a legislator, he said. 

"If the cause was worthy, I'm not going to get all shook up about what's what. Either you're with me or you're not. No sweat off my rear end," he said. 

His accomplishments include changing the payout formula for communities hosting power plants. The formula used to be based on the value of the facility, which depreciates over time, and now is based on how much power the plant generates. 

That legislation has produced a steady revenue stream for Oak Creek, which is using the money it gets from hosting the We Energies power plant on community projects, including a new city hall/library and fire station. 

"Was it a win for Oak Creek? Huge," he said.

Honadel also successfully pushed for a deregulation of the telecommunications industry and the Drexel Interchange, which opened late last year. In fact, the apples shown on the Drexel Avenue overpass are a tribute to the apple orchards, including the Honadel's, that once graced the area. 

One of his most controversial causes was the mining legislation that passed last year. Honadel was a chief sponsor and advocate of the bill. 

Several groups and lobbyists approached Honadel, with his industrial background, about sponsoring a bill that would loosen regulations and overhaul the state's mining laws.

Supporters said the bill would help create a mine in northern Wisconsin, and Honadel also believed it would help southeastern Wisconsin companies like Caterpillar. 

"I said, 'Yes, I want to be your guy. I'll take this on,'" Honadel said. 

Then there were the Capitol protests of 2011, when thousands descended on Madison rallying against widespread changes to collective bargaining for public employees. 

Honadel views that as an ugly period for the Legislature, with protestors taking over the Capitol and Democratic state senators making a high-profile trip to Illinois. 

"I think the Legislature lost some dignity," Honadel said. "I hope respect and dignity comes back, and I think it has." 

Long roots in Oak Creek
Honadels have long been a part of the Oak Creek area, with the first family members arriving in the 1840s.

Honadel was raised on a 150-acre farm—50 acres of which were used as an apple orchard, the other 100 for dairy—near 27th Street and Puetz Road. He credits that upbringing for the life he ended up leading.

"You just learn things other kids don't get to learn, whether it's mechanical stuff or hard work or working on electrical stuff, fixing machinery, welding," he said. 

After graduating from Oak Creek High School, he worked as a welder and steel fabricator for many years. "I still have all my fingers ... I only had about 80 stitches working in the steel industry, but that's nothing," he joked.  

He got the itch to run his own business and eventually did so with Honadel's, a combination liquor store-animal feed-lawn and garden center.

"You could buy a case of beer, a bag of dog food and some lawn care or flowers all at one stop," he said. 

He operated the store for 16 years, and along the way, also taught math, blueprint reading and welding for a few years at the Milwaukee County House of Correction.

Hoandel was sitting at his desk when he got the call from a Republican strategist about running for the Assembly. After about an hour of conversation, he was hooked.  

He defeated attorney and Oak Creek Alderman Al Foeckler with 61 percent of the vote, and got about 60 percent in each subsequent election, with one notable exception—the 2008 race. 

With Barack Obama in his first presidential campaign, health care became a major issue in the Assembly race, said Honadel, whose views contrasted starkly with the future president's. 

He went to bed that night trailing and believed he was probably out of a job. But he awoke the next day and learned he won with 52 percent of the vote.

"I went to bed thinking, 'I better get my resume out,'" he said. 

The future

Honadel, 57, is staying mum about his future plans, though speculation about what he might do has been rampant.  

With retirement not far off, he felt he had a small window to make more money for his family and was presented with an opportunity to do so, he told Patch.

"When opportunity knocks, you're either going to take it or leave it," Honadel said. "What I'm going to do is going to be a compilation of all the things I love in my life, and it's going to be helping people."

The field to replace Honadel is crowding, with four Republicans declaring their intent to run for the seat

Honadel's fellow Republicans praised his tenure in the Legislature and congratulated him on returning to the private sector. 

Speaker Robin Vos said Honadel's first election in 2003 was part of the "beginning of the property tax revolt," noting that Honadel made a property tax freeze a centerpiece of his campaign. 

"Mark will be missed in the Assembly by Democrats and Republicans alike," Vos said in a statement. "The private sector is lucky to have him back." 

A Democrat, state Rep. Christine Sinicki, acknowledged she had her differences with Honadel, but said she respected how he was able to put politics aside on important issues.

"While we haven't often seen eye-to-eye on most issues," Sinicki said, "I always knew that Mark wouldn't let partisan differences stand in the way if there was a problem affecting our community, or if I had an idea for how to make Milwaukee County a better place to live."


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