Home About Chat Users Issues Party Candidates Polling Firms Media News Polls Calendar Key Races United States President Senate House Governors International

New User Account
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource." 
Email: Password:

  Pratt, Marvin
CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationDemocratic  
 
NameMarvin Pratt
Address
Milwaukee, Wisconsin , United States
EmailNone
WebsiteNone
Born May 26, 1944 (79 years)
ContributorThomas Walker
Last ModifedJuan Croniqueur
Apr 29, 2023 11:58pm
Tags Black - Air Force -
InfoThe first time Marvin Pratt stepped into the mayor's office, he could be forgiven for being a little tentative and nervous, intimidated even.

It was 1973. Pratt was 28, a veteran of the Air Force and finished with a degree at Marquette University. He was a graduate intern in the office of legendary Mayor Henry Maier. And there was no question who was in charge.

"If you got in to see him," Pratt said, shaking his head. "He could holler, curse, spit."

The office is his now, as acting mayor since Jan. 2.

And, though his nine opponents have a lot to say about it, Pratt would just as soon keep it for a while. Supporters say the job suits Pratt, a low-key politician who after three decades in city government patiently worked his way back to the office where he began.

Critics, though, question his decisiveness, his vision, even his political will. They note that Pratt, the first African-American to hold the post, wasn't able to keep the mayoral field clear of several minor candidates who could cut into his base and foil his long-held dream.

When it comes to assessing Marvin Pratt, most everyone can agree on this: He's no Henry Maier. And, with Milwaukee now a minority-majority city, that may be a plus.

A gentle prod
"My basic message to him was I'd always found him to be a decent, honest person and fundamentally an excellent alderman for his district," said consultant H. Carl Mueller, recounting a conversation he had with Pratt five years ago.

"I told him he ought to think about what he wanted to do in his career," Mueller said. "He was the type of African-American politician who could rally support in all sectors of the city and, maybe for the first time, unify the city."

He could be mayor, Mueller told him.

Mueller, who brought a one-page memo to that meeting at Pratt's home, had delivered a similar message to then-state Sen. John O. Norquist in 1987. The idea wasn't a new one. Pratt floated it in 1991, when he had been on the council for only four years.

Perhaps it should be no surprise that Pratt ultimately made it to the big desk in the mayor's office. In his life, things have had a way of circling back.

He grew up in Texas, raised mainly by his mother after his father died when Pratt was 8. Later, in the Air Force, Pratt found himself stationed at a base in San Antonio, standing guard at the gate when President Kennedy visited in 1963, the day before that day in Dallas.

Pratt met his wife, Dianne, at the Center Street Library, when he walked in one day and was essentially volunteered to help in a tutor program. Later, when he went to work for the city library system, he was assigned there.

In 1967, Pratt participated in the open housing marches with Father James Groppi, across the 16th St. Viaduct and into the mostly white south side. When Pratt joined the council, one of the burning issues was whether the bridge should be named for Groppi.

On the council, Pratt brought a union background to the job - he had been president of the local that represented workers in the assessor's office - along with a history of hard work.

Making Milwaukee home
As a boy in Texas, in what Pratt calls "black south Dallas," he and his siblings had to clean chalkboards and bathrooms to help pay tuition at St. Anthony Elementary School. The family moved to Milwaukee when Pratt was 14, so his mother could seek better work.

She found a job at the U.S. Postal Service and instead of public housing, Pratt adjusted to the city's neighborhoods and North Division High School, a few blocks away. At school, a speech therapist helped Pratt, who struggled with "s" words, assistance he didn't get in Texas.

"I remember going home one day," Pratt said with a smile, "and telling my brother and sisters, 'I can say sugar. I can say soap. I can say soup.' "

It is a story he rarely tells, though it would fit nicely with his call for opportunity for all. Very few who attended Pratt's swearing-in ceremony as acting mayor, when he delivered a confident speech, had any idea how far he'd come, where that particular circle began.

Once Pratt was elected to the council, then-Common Council President John Kalwitz tapped him for a spot on the budget-writing Finance and Personnel Committee, a plum assignment for a rookie. He later became chairman of the committee, which became a steppingstone to the president's job in 2000.

"He wasn't afraid to pull his own weight," said Kalwitz, who follows Milwaukee politics closely from his retirement home in Nevada. "He had opinions, and I felt he did a very good job."

Decisions questioned
In his early years, Pratt was often measured against firebrand Ald. Michael McGee. As Common Council president, Pratt draws comparisons with Kalwitz, who is seen as a master of the operations of government.

Those comparisons come up when Pratt takes a strong stand, such as opposing Norquist's appointment of Robert "Woody" Welch to the Fire and Police Commission, but can't get the council to go along.

Several aldermen, including some who backed him as president, lament missed opportunities, first after Norquist's 2002 announcement he would not run again, then again during scandal-plagued 2003, when three aldermen were sent to prison.

"At a time when our credibility was in question, many of us wanted him to stand up in front of the cameras, in front of the reporters, and say the city is continuing to work," said Ald. Mike D'Amato.

Instead, when Ald. Jeff Pawlinski gave a farewell speech on the council floor, before resigning and pleading guilty to charges of misusing his campaign fund, he got a public hug from Pratt.

And when Ald. Paul Henningsen was charged, Pratt waited for days until his ally and friend came forward to step down as chairman of the Zoning Neighborhoods and Development Committee.

In both cases, observers say, he was putting his heart before his head, past relationships before his future.

Last summer, when reporters asked about the puffed-up resume of his campaign press secretary, Pratt helpfully offered that he put the guy on the city payroll for 21 hours a week so he'd get health benefits. Everyone, it seems, has a story of a Marvin misstep.

Now, with days to go before the primary, Pratt seems to have found a more comfortable stride as acting mayor.

Norquist's early departure gave Pratt the job he was running for. But he has to rely on voters to let him keep it.



[Link]

JOB APPROVAL POLLS

BOOKS
Title Purchase Contributor

EVENTS
Start Date End Date Type Title Contributor

NEWS
Date Category Headline Article Contributor

DISCUSSION
[View All
1
Previous Messages]
Importance? 0.00000 Average

FAMILY

INFORMATION LINKS
RACES
  02/04/2011 Milwaukee County Executive - Interim Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  04/06/2004 Mayor - Milwaukee Lost 46.23% (-7.54%)
  02/17/2004 Milwaukee Mayor - Primary Won 38.03% (+5.38%)
  01/01/2004 Mayor - Milwaukee Acting Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  04/18/2000 Milwaukee Common Council President Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
ENDORSEMENTS
WI Governor - Nov 02, 2010 R Scott Walker