State Senator Cullen Returns to Democratic Caucus

The state Senator who earlier this week left the Democratic caucus has returned, calling his dispute with the Senate Democratic Majority Leader “a little squabble.”

Janesville Senate Democrat Tim Cullen held a joint press conference with Senate Democratic Majority Leader Mark Miller to announce Cullen’s return. He left in the first place because of a dispute over committee assignments. Cullen didn’t like the committee chairmanships given to him by Miller and pushed for something different. Miller pushed back and gave him no committees. Cullen said he felt disrespected.

Friday, Miller and Cullen announced that Cullen would chair two new committees–one on mining and one on venture capital. Cullen said it was good to feel appreciated, “This happened and this little squabble got public. That’s because I guess we’re Democrats. But we Democrats solved it and we solved it relatively quickly. And I couldn’t be happier with the outcome, I couldn’t be happier to be back in the caucus and I couldn’t be happier with the way Sen. Miller worked to get this resolved.”

Cullen expressed no regret over the way he handled the dispute. Miller said he personally could have handled the situation differently, “Well, you know, I can some responsibility. I’m new at this job. I maybe could have dealt with this better. But the plain fact is, Sen. Cullen is a valued member of our caucus.”

Cullen’s return to the Democratic caucus leaves them with a 17-to-16 seat majority for the time being, though Republicans are hoping to take the majority back this November.