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Lobbyist named as Schimel’s deputy

By: Eric Heisig//November 25, 2014//

Lobbyist named as Schimel’s deputy

By: Eric Heisig//November 25, 2014//

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Andy Cook, a lobbyist for the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council, stands near the State Capitol building in Madison.
Andy Cook, a lobbyist for the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council, stands near the state Capitol building in Madison recently. (File photo by Kevin Harnack)

A business lobbyist with the Hamilton Consulting Group LLC, Madison, will be the new attorney general’s deputy, according to a news release from J.B. Van Hollen’s office.

Andy Cook will be Brad Schimel’s right-hand man when Schimel is sworn in Jan. 5. He will also work with Schimel and Van Hollen’s office in the transition between the two administrations, according to the release.

Cook has worked for Hamilton Consulting since 2007. His page on the firm’s website lists a number of pro-business laws that he lobbied to pass in the 2011-13 legislative session, including a bill that undid a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that apportioned liability for paint companies embroiled in lead poising lawsuits. He also worked to change product liability laws that year, according to the website.

According to the state’s lobbying website, Cook is a registered lobbyist for Wal-Mart, 3M, the Wisconsin Defense Counsel, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy, among others. He is also a member of the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council, a right-leaning, pro-business group, and has authored several reports that rate the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s votes in court cases that affect business liability.

He received his law degree from John Marshall Law School in 2003 and was admitted to Wisconsin’s bar in 2008. He is also on the board of the State Bar’s environmental law section.

Cook did not immediately return a phone call.

Schimel, the Republican Waukesha County district attorney, defeated Susan Happ in an election Nov. 4. He will replace Van Hollen, who decided not to run for a third term.

In addition, the news release also announced that Schimel’s transition team will include:

    • Johnny Koremenos, Schimel’s campaign manager.
    • Ave Bie, managing partner at the Madison office of Quarles & Brady LLP.
    • Michael Brennan, a former Milwaukee County circuit judge and a commercial litigator at Gass Weber Mullins LLC.
    • Mark Cameli, a former federal prosecutor and current attorney with Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren SC.
    • Former Lt. Gov. Margaret Farrow.
    • Brian O’Keefe, administrator for the DOJ’s law enforcement services division.
    • Raymond Taffora, vice chancellor for legal affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a former deputy attorney general and chief legal counsel to former Gov. Tommy Thompson.

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