Title: James T. Flynn Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1973-1981

Creator:

• Flynn, James T.

Call Number: Milwaukee Mss 89

Quantity: 2.0 c.f. (6 archives boxes)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries’ Archives Department / Milwaukee Area Research Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Legislative papers of Flynn, a Democratic state senator from the 8th District (west Milwaukee area), consisting of files on the Joint Legislative Council's Special Committee on Court Reorganization which he chaired, on other committees, and on topics such as compensation for crime victims, equal credit for women, and other legislative issues.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil00089

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Democratic lieutenant governor and former state senator James T. Flynn was born in Chicago on September 25, 1944. He attended Marquette University, receiving a B.A. in economics in 1970 and completing his law degree in 1973.

In 1972 Flynn was elected to the State Senate from the Eighth District which included Wauwatosa, West Allis, West Milwaukee, and portions of Greendale. During the ten years that Flynn served in the Senate he was appointed to a number of powerful committees and served in a leadership capacity on several. Among these were chairmanships of the Judiciary and Consumer Affairs Committee, the Joint Committee on Finance and the Joint Committee on Revision, Repeal, and Uniform Laws. From 1979 through 1982 he was assistant Democratic majority leader.

In 1982 Flynn was elected lieutenant governor on a Democratic ticket headed by Anthony Earl. In addition to serving in his constitutional position as president of the Senate, Flynn was appointed secretary of the Department of Development.

The papers of James T. Flynn consist of miscellaneous files relating to his tenure in the Senate. The miscellaneous nature of the files is no doubt attributable to the fact that the papers were received in the Archives via the Legislative Reference Bureau and not directly from Flynn's office. Clearly, this accession in no way represents the main body of his legislative papers.

The largest portion of the files pertain to the Legislative Council's Special Committee on Court Reorganization which did research and made recommendations for enacting the restructuring of the court system mandated by voters in April 1977. As Flynn was chairman of this committee from 1977 to 1978, his files are quite complete. Included are agenda and summary proceedings, general and specialized research correspondence, staff memoranda of several types, maps, and research information. Further supplementing these unpublished records are some serialized Legislative Council memoranda and reports held by the Wisconsin Historical Society Library. A small quantity of related correspondence and unintroduced legislation is included in the papers of Senator Henry Dorman (Parkside Mss 55), also a member of the committee.

Smaller files of proceedings, correspondence, and working files relate to several other of Flynn's committee assignments: the Judicial Council's Committee on Court Administration, the Legislative Council's Committee on Courts, and the Senate Committee to Study Standing Committee Rules. Three legislative files of similar composition concern a privacy bill for which Flynn was a co-sponsor, the office of the public defender, and the transportation revenue package of 1975.

Two additional cartons of Flynn Papers received in 1983 and 1984 via the Legislative Reference Bureau contained additional material on court reorganization as well as documentation on his long interest in compensation for crime victims. This material has been arranged as an alphabetical subject file at the end of the first portion of the collection.

The court reorganization material consists of correspondence, memoranda, notes, and reports on the legislation enacted by the 1975/1976 and 1977/1978 sessions. There are also files on the Committee for Court Modernization which worked to pass the constitutional referenda on court reform in 1977. This file includes copies of statements from Flynn and advertising used by the committee. The crime victims file documents Flynn's involvement in various pieces of legislation on this subject from 1973 to 1978. Other subject files of interest include those on non-discriminatory credit for women, termination of parental rights for children in foster care, and fire safety for high-rise buildings. Also added to this section from internal Archives files were two newsletters distributed by Senator Flynn.

Acquisition Information

Presented via the Legislative Reference Bureau in 1982-1984. Accession Number: 1982/318, 1983/183, and M84-090

Processing Information

Processed by Carolyn J. Mattern, February 1984 and March 1985.

	Series: Original Collection
Box   1 Folder   1	Court Administration, Judicial Council Committee on, Working files, 1978
	Court Reorganization, Legislative Council Special Committee on
Box   1 Folder   2	Proceedings, 1977-1978
	Correspondence, 1977-1978
Box   1 Folder   3-4	General
Box   1 Folder   5	Judges and others
Box   1 Folder   6	Committee members, officials, court reporters
Box   2 Folder   1	District maps
	Memoranda, 1977-1978
Box   2 Folder   2	Staff
Box   2 Folder   3	Numbered series
Box   2 Folder   4-5	Testimony of county officials and data, 1977
	Information
Box   2 Folder   6	Allocation, statistics
Box   3 Folder   1	Administration
Box   3 Folder   2	Costs
Box   3 Folder   3	Discipline and removal of judges
Box   3 Folder   4	Workload and court facilities
	Courts, Legislative Committee on, 1978-1980
Box   4 Folder   1	Proceedings
Box   4 Folder   2	Memoranda and correspondence
Box   4 Folder   3	Privacy bill, 1977
	Public Defender bill, 1980
Box   4 Folder   4	Correspondence
Box   4 Folder   5	Working papers
	Rules, Senate Committee to Study Standing Committees, 1975
Box   4 Folder   6	Proceedings
Box   4 Folder   7	General
Box   4 Folder   8	Transportation revenue package, 1975
Box   4 Folder   9	Miscellany
	Series: Additions	⇧
Box   5 Folder   1	Adoption fees, 1977
Box   5 Folder   2	Aerosol cans, 1973
Box   5 Folder   3	Automobile lease and rental, 1973
	Court reorganization
Box   5 Folder   4	Court Modernization Committee, 1976-1977
Box   5 Folder   5	Court Reorganization Conference Committee, 1975-1976
Box   5 Folder   6-7	Court reorganization legislation, 1977-1978
	Crime victims
Box   5 Folder   8	General, 1973, 1977
Box   5 Folder   9	SB 139, 1975
Box   5 Folder   10	AB 313, 1979
Box   5 Folder   11	SB 334, 1979
Box   5 Folder   12	SB 345, 1979
Box   5 Folder   13	AB 1043, 1979-1981
Box   5 Folder   14	DILHR, 1979
Box   6 Folder   1	Emergency medical treatment by hospitals, 1973-1977
Box   6 Folder   2	Equal credit for women, 1974-1975
Box   6 Folder   3	Foster care parental rights termination, 1973
Box   6 Folder   4	Health spa regulation, 1977-1978
Box   6 Folder   5	High-rise fire safety regulation, 1973-1975
Box   6 Folder   6	Miscellany, 1973, 1977
Box   6 Folder   7	Newsletters, 1976, undated