A passion for public service led State Senator Randy Hopper to make his first bid for public office in the fall of 2008.

Now beginning his first term in office, Randy has focused on putting wisconsin workers back on the job. As the Co-Chairman of the Wisconsin Jobs NOW Task Force, Randy has held roundtable discussions around the state with employers to find out what Wisconsin can do to turn out economy around. Randy has already succeeded in getting one of his job creation initiatives signed into law. The Dairy Manufacturing Facility Investment Tax Credit, adopted as part of Wisconsin Act 2, is helping dairy farmers around Wisconsin invest in growth and hire new employees.

Having campaigned on changing politics-as-usual, Randy wasted no time in showing that he would be a different kind of public servant. On his first day in office, Randy cospsonsored legislation that would end the lavish compounding sick-leave benefit that had allowed elected officials to accumulate thousands of dollars that could be used to pay for health expenses upon retirement. This is a benefit not available to nearly any workers in the private sector. Only a few days later, Randy donated his scheduled legislative pay raise to the Strong Kids Campaigns at three local YMCA's. And Randy's first speech on the senate floor was to offer an amendment opposing the practice of secret paper ballots in committee proceedings.

Randy's leadership style was shaped by his life and career prior to being elected to public office. For more than 17 years, Randy has been on the front lines of job creation as the owner and operator of Mountain Dog Media, a family of small market radio stations in the Fond du Lac and Sheboygan areas. As a new State Senator, Randy is putting those years of experience to work, developing policy that will get Wisconsin on the path to economic growth.

As a small business owner, Randy had dedicated himself to community service. Mountain Dog Media is an integral part of the communities of Fond du Lac and Oshkosh, promoting and fundraising for many charitable causes. Randy serves on the Board of Directors of the Fond du Lac Association of Commerce and the Board of Directors of the Fond du Lac Family YMCA. Randy is a founding member of the Cops for Kids program and Mountain Dog Media sponsors the annual KFIZ Halloween Party designed to keep kids safe from predators on Halloween.

Randy earned his BA in History from Denison University in Granville, OH, where he was an award winning student athlete. He furthered his education by earning a Masters Degree in Business from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Randy continued his commitment to higher education by serving as a Trustee at Marian University in Fond du Lac.

Randy serves on the Senate Education Committee; the Senate Small Business, Emergency Preparedness, Technical Colleges and Consumer Protection Committee; the Senate Judiciary, Corrections, Insurance, Campaign Finance Reform and Housing Committee; and the Senate Children, Families and Workforce Development Committee.