2-27-20 olsen retiring from legislature

Republican state senator Luther Olsen of Ripon says it seems like only yesterday when he first ran for state legislature.  Twenty six years later, Olsen is retiring.  Olsen announced this week he would not seek re-election this fall.  “After the election people get sworn in and within two months I’ll be 70 years old.  It’s like man alive, do I want to still work in my 70s?” Olsen told WFDL news.  “My health is good and I got other things to do and its been 26 years in the legislature I’ve been in the public eye since I was 24 years old.  It’s just time to turn the page.”  Olsen says one of his proudest accomplishments is  passage of the graduated drivers license bill he authored.   “…a constituent-driven piece of legislation that we passed and it has saved many, many lives,”  Olsen said.  Olsen also remembers a constituent who desperately needed an organ transplant. Olsen says the woman called his office and within 48 hours she was placed on a waiting list and got her organ transplant.  Olsen says a few years later at a graduation party a woman came up to him and gave him a big hug.  “She said Luther you don’t know this but I tell just about everybody that I meet you are the reason I am alive today,”  Olsen said.   “We’re public servants and it’s not all about passing laws, it’s doing work for my constituents and that one was a happy ending.”  Olsen says in his opinion former Governor Tommy Thompson was the best governor he worked with because what he was able to accomplish with a divided legislature.  Olsen says today it seems that the art of compromise has been lost in Madison.  “You have to negotiate because nobody is a king and so you have to work with other folks that have different ideas.  But if you can bring them together and come up with a solution, a lot of times it winds up better than what either side had in mind in the beginning.”