The Honorable Jerry Kleczka
Founders Award 1999

The inaugural Founders Award was presented to the Honorable Jerry Kleczka in recognition of his singular contributions to the Marquette University Internship Program, and his active participation on the Aspin Center’s National Board of Visitors since its inception in 1996. Congressman Kleczka is most worthy of this recognition. Congressman Kleczka took the first Marquette University intern in 1984 and for more than 20 years, he has provided internships for students, affording them the opportunity to experience our nation’s political system firsthand.

Kleczka’s leadership on behalf of the Aspin Center and his unwavering service to its mission and students have proved an invaluable influence for the many people and organizations who have benefited from this internationally recognized program.

Congressman Jerry Kleczka represented Wisconsin’s 4th Congressional District, which includes the cities of St. Francis, Cudahy, South Milwaukee, West Milwaukee and parts of West Allis. A Democrat, he has compiled a distinguished career of public service beginning with his election in 1968 to the Wisconsin State Assembly at age 24. Elected to the state Senate in 1974, Kleczka quickly ascended to leadership posts as Senate Assistant Majority Leader and co-chair of the Legislature’s powerful Joint Finance Committee.

In 1984, Kleczka was elected to the 4th Congressional District seat in a special election made necessary by the death of Congressman Clement J. Zablocki, the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman. Kleczka has never lost an election in his political career. He retired from office in December 2004.

While in Congress, Kleczka crafted a reputation as an astute and polished budget and tax expert and leader on issues important to working families and the elderly. His positions on the influential House Ways and Means Committee and its Health subcommittee, and the House Budget Committee positioned him to push through major health care and spending reforms such as his ban on ‘’drive-through” baby deliveries and his initiative to limit disability payments to drug addicts and alcoholics, both made law. In this Congress, Kleczka continues to push for HMO reform with the Patients’ Bill of Rights and his bill to ban “drive-through’’ mastectomies.