Democratic legislator Timothy F. Cullen was born February 25, 1944 in Janesville, Wisconsin. After attending the local public schools he graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1966 with a degree in political science. The following year he did graduate work at Northern Illinois University.
From 1969 through 1971 Cullen was an insurance agent associated with the Green and MacDonald Agency. He began to put his academic background in political science to practical application in 1970 when he won election to the Janesville City Council. In 1971 he became an ombudsman on the staff of Democratic Congressman Les Aspin. Cullen gave this up in 1974 to run for the Wisconsin Senate from the Fifteenth District. After his election he rapidly rose to become one of the most powerful members of his party in the Legislature. In the 1975 session he was appointed to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Human Services, Labor and Taxation; the Select Committee on Mining Development; and the Legislative Council. In 1977 he was chair of the Committee on Agriculture, Aging, and Labor and vice-chair of Tourism. In 1979 he was chairman of the Committee on Aging, Business and Financial Institutions, and Transportation and the Legislative Council's Mining Committee. He continued to hold both of these posts until 1982 when he resigned as a result of his election as Senate Majority Leader.
