County Supervisor Paulson Not Seeking Re-election

WAUKESHA, WI—Duane Paulson, a Waukesha County Supervisor, said Friday he would not seek another term as supervisor.

“It’s time,” he told Patch.

Paulson moved to Waukesha County in 1956.

Paulson served in the U.S. army for 3 years and was stationed in Korea and Germany.

“My dad was on the school board years ago and I always wanted to be involved in the community,” he said.

He added it was something that came naturally to him.

“It was something I knew I was going to do in life,” Paulson said.

He initially ran for County Board Supervisor in 1998 because the former supervisor in his district, Ed Schultz, was not running for re-election and recruited Paulson to run for the position.

In 2018, he was seriously hurt in a car accident and recovered.

Here is Paulson's full statement:

After 12 elections and 24 years as a County Supervisor, I have decided to not run for reelection.
I am humbled that people have allowed me to represent them at the county level of government.
Waukesha County is considered the leader in county government. We are able to hire or develop great managers and they in turn hire great employees.

We as elected set policy and direction and they carry it out. Of course, the most important thing we do is adopt a budget every year.

Our budgeting practices has kept us a AAA bond rating and saved us millions in interest over the years. I’ve had some successes. Probably the most unique one was an ordinance that I authored to allow county law enforcement people that were involved with deadly force, the ability to have paid legal representation by the county.

They always had the ability to ask for help, but it had to be approved. I felt that if they had followed procedures, we had a responsibility. I got it passed on the Board floor 32 to 3 (we had 35 supervisors at the time).

The County Executive at the time did not veto it, but did not sign it. As a result, it became law in 10 days. That is the only time that I have seen that happen.

One of the most satisfying things we can do as a supervisor is assist constituents. These are not issues that make the headlines but grease the slides for a person trying to get needed services.
I can tell you that the decision to run for office 24 years ago was easier than to decide not to run now.

Overall, I want to thank everyone for their support over the years. I especially want to thank my wife Carol for putting up with this. and wish my successor the best of luck.