Richard Elsner
Richard Elsner (May 29, 1859 – January 18, 1938) was an American attorney and judge from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who served one term as a Socialist member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.
Background[edit]
Elsner was born May 29, 1859, in Silesia.[citation needed] He attended public school, gymnasium and technical college in Germany. He came to Milwaukee in 1880 and became a leader of the Brewery Workers Union by 1886. Later he attended Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin Law School where he graduated in 1894, becoming a self-described "practicing lawyer by profession."
Politics and public office[edit]
By 1898, he was the Socialist nominee for Attorney General of Wisconsin, coming in fifth in a six-way race.[1] In 1900, he was again the nominee, placing fourth in a five-way race; by 1902, he had moved up to third in another five-way race,[2] repeating the performance in 1906.[3]
He was a county judge of Milwaukee County from 1910 to 1916. In 1916 he was the Socialist nominee for the United States Senate, coming in third in a four-way race in which incumbent Republican Robert M. La Follette, Sr. was re-elected. In 1919 Elsner was elected register of deeds of Milwaukee County for the first of two terms. He was elected a member of the assembly in November, 1922 in a fierce contest (Victor Berger was reported to have said, "Mr. Leander Pierson belongs in the legislature of Pennsylvania, or New York, or Hell-- but not in Wisconsin!"),[4] receiving 1,679 votes to incumbent Republican Leander J. Pierson's 1663 votes. He was appointed to the standing committees on the judiciary and on insurance and banking.[5]
In 1924 he was not a candidate for re-election, and was succeeded by Republican Ernst F. Pahl.[6]
After legislative service[edit]
His papers are in the Special Collections of the Golda Meier Library of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.[7]
References[edit]
- ^ Froehlich, Wm. H., ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin Madison: 1899; p. 376
- ^ Erickson, Halford, ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin Madison: 1903; p. 602
- ^ Beck, J. D., ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin Madison: Democrat Printing Co., State Printer, 1907; p. 1121
- ^ "Berger Leads The Way", Eau Claire Leader August 2, 1922; p. 6, col. 2 via Newspapers.com
- ^ The Wisconsin blue book, 1923 Madison: 1923; pp. 580, 589, 631
- ^ Holmes, Fred L., ed. The Wisconsin blue book, 1925 Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1925; p. 672
- ^ Richard Elsner Papers, 1854-1967