McCoshen new at job, but an old pro at game

0 Comments | Milwaukee Sentinel, Mar 9, 1995 | by TOM DAYKIN

Madison In Development Secretary William J. McCoshen's office there hangs a framed poster from his dad's last campaign.

Patrick McCoshen won re-election to the Superior School Board, and died in office in 1984, while Billy Mac, as some call him, was a freshman at the University of Wisconsin Superior.

Patrick McCoshen's last campaign was one of Billy Mac's first. After his father died, Bill McCoshen transferred to UW Madison, and within a few years caught the attention of a man who became a father figure: Gov. Tommy G. Thompson.

Now, after working as Thompson's chief of staff and managing his 1994 re-election campaign, McCoshen is running the State Department of Development, Wisconsin's political equivalent of the Pentagon. Not bad for a guy who just turned 30.

"I've come pretty far, pretty fast under Tommy Thompson," said McCoshen, whom the state Senate confirmed as development secretary Feb. 15. "It's a dream come true."

Being named development secretary at a young age may put McCoshen under a lot of pressure, said Rep. Scott Jensen (R- Town of Brookfield), a friend and former governor's office cohort. But Billy Mac, once a high school hockey standout, handles it well, he said.

"Bill is a hockey player," Jensen said. "He's a very aggressive athlete and a very successful player. . . . He loves to be in the game."

McCoshen has ambitions of being governor some day. Today, though, he's seen by some as a guy who's out of his league.

"It's certainly not his age," said Sen. Brian Burke (D-Milwaukee), one of just two senators who opposed McCoshen's confirmation. "It's his total lack of experience in the field of economic development. His only professional experience, I believe, was as a bartender."

McCoshen said his government experience including legislative deal-making and hobnobbing with business leaders makes up for his lack of economic development experience. He also said he's willing to listen, and to learn.

"I think people like the idea that I have an open mind," McCoshen said.

When he arrived in Madison to attend college, McCoshen figured he'd start his political career by working for the Democratic Party. After all, Patrick McCoshen was a lifelong, blue-collar Democrat.

The party told him to get lost.

"They turned me down!" McCoshen said, laughing. "Who knows what would have happened?"

Actually, McCoshen said, he probably would have landed with the GOP eventually anyway. Democrats from Superior tend to be more conservative than those from Madison, he said.

McCoshen's sister had a co- worker whose husband ran the Senate's Republican caucus. Using that connection, and wearing a borrowed sports coat, McCoshen interviewed for a file clerk post.

"I had no political credentials at all," McCoshen said.

But he got the job. After earning his bachelor's degree in political science in 1987, McCoshen worked as a GOP field director, coordinating political campaigns throughout northeastern Wisconsin in 1988.

McCoshen's 10 candidates all lost. More notably, McCoshen landed a job with Thompson's office as a low-level policy analyst.

Jensen had turned down McCoshen's request for such a job in 1987 when he was running the Assembly's Republican caucus. Jensen thought McCoshen needed more experience.

But Jensen was impressed with McCoshen when he joined the governor's office in 1989.

"It was clear he was one of the most talented people there," said Jensen, who worked with McCoshen while serving first as Thompson's special assistant and then as chief of staff.

McCoshen, he said, had the complete confidence of Thompson and the governor's top aide, Administration Secretary James Klauser.

Billy Mac's talents included his ability to work out agreements among warring factions in the Legislature, Jensen said.

"It was a very impressive display to win people over, to get people to trust him despite his age," Jensen said. "There aren't many 24-year-olds who could move with such confidence."

McCoshen rose rapidly, from policy adviser to legislative liaison, director of policy, executive assistant, and, finally, chief of staff in 1992.

In between, he left the governor's office to serve as communications director in Thompson's 1990 re-election campaign, and as campaign manager in 1994.

Those jobs, McCoshen said, have given him valuable experience for running the Department of Development, which is responsible for retaining and attracting jobs.

"This is a deal-making agency," McCoshen said. And a business deal, he said, is similar to a political deal.

"You've got to know what the parameters are to begin with. You can't overpromise on these.

"You need good people skills. It's a lot of sales and marketing. That's what I've done the last eight years. I've been selling Tommy Thompson and his policies."

Also, McCoshen said, his time spent with Thompson has made him familiar with many of Wisconsin's business leaders.

Business people know McCoshen and are comfortable with him, said James Buchen, vice president for government relations at Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business group.