An Oral History Interview with MARC MAROTTA Interviewer: .Anita Hecht

WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY An Oral History Interview with MARC MAROTTA Interviewer: .Anita Hecht, Life History Services Recording Date: January 15, 2009 Place: Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Length: 1.5 hours Marc John Marotta was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the eldest of two boys born to Phil Marotta and Esther Lesoon Marotta. .After graduating from Central Catholic High School in 1980, Marotta received a basketball scholarship to attend Marquette University in Milwaukee. In 1982, during his second summer of college, he served an internship in Sen. William Proxmire's office in Washington, DC. Marotta describes the internship as demanding and influential in solidifying his democratic affiliation. He drove Sen. Proxmire around Milwaukee during his 1982 re-election campaign, and worked on such matters as the Genocide Convention, the Golden Fleece award, worker training legislation, and constituent relations. .After earning his B.S. degree in political science and economics, with a minor in English, Marotta was named a three-time Academic All-American and received a NCAA scholarship. He used the funds to attend Harvard Law School, where he earned his JD in 1987. In 1987, Marotta began work for Foley & Lardner LLP. One year later, he became the treasurer of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, and in 1992, he ran for U.S. Congress from Wisconsin's 5th congressional district. Between 2003 and 2005, Marc served as Secretary of Administration under Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle. PROJECT NAME: PROXMIRE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT Verbatim Interview Transcript NARRATOR: MARC MAROTTA INTERVIEWER: Anita Hecht INTERVIEW DATE: January 15, 2009 INTERVIEW LOCATION: Milwaukee, Wisconsin INTERVIEW LENGTH: Approximately 1.5 Hours KEY: MM Marc Marotta BP Bill Proxmire SUBJECT INDEX HOUR1 Hour 1/00:00 MM Family History Beginning Interest in Politics Internship with BP Hour 1/10:08 MM's Introduction to BP BP's Personality Duties as Intern Hour 1/20:00 The Genocide Treaty Office Debates BP's Views on Middle East/Human Rights Issues Hour 1/30:25 Golden Fleece Awards BP's Speculated Views on Today's Bailouts 1982 Campaign Hour 1/40:00 Campaigning with BP BP's Speaking Style BP's Opposition to Senate Pay Raise Hour 1/50:25 Impact of Internship on MM Post Internship Contact with BP MM's Political Involvement Marc Marotta Interview Transcript Proxmire Oral History Project HOUR 2 Hour 2/00:00 BP's Exercise Regimen MM's Interest in Law/Politics '92 Congressional Campaign BP's Retirement/Alzheimer's Hour 2/10:00 Political Toll on Family Life BP's Legacy Campaign Finance Reform Hour 2/20:00 BP's Devotion to Public Service/Influence on Others HOUR1 Hour 1/00:00 MM Family History, Beginning Interest in Politics, Internship with BP The date is January 15* in the year 2009. My name is Anita Hecht and I have the great pleasure and honor of interviewing Marc John Marotta in his office at Foley and Lardner Law Firm, here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on behalf of the William Proxmire Oral History Project for the Wisconsin Historical Society. So welcome to this interview, and thank you for agreeing to participate. Thank you, Anita. Thanks for doing this. Let's begin with a little bit of information about you and your background. First of all, when and where were you born? Marc Marotta Interview Transcript Proxmire Oral History Project I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1962, in November. And you grew up in Pittsburgh? Grew up in Pittsburgh; went to school there all the way through high school. And left Pittsburgh at the age of seventeen to come to Marquette University to attend school and play basketball on a basketball scholarship. Tell me a little bit about your family background. Who was in your family and where did they come from? My father, Phil, his ancestors came from Naples, Italy. They came over in the 1920s. My father was born in 1931, obviously raised during a very difficult time. My grandmother lived with us for about nine years and actually spoke just broken English. So when I was younger, I spoke both English and Italian. And one of my biggest regrets is not keeping up with that, actually. You know, at that time, you didn't want to really look like you were much different than the other kids, and speaking Italian sort of made you look a little bit different. But anyway, my mother's side of the family came from the Middle East. My grandmother, her family is from Syria. She was born and raised in Pittsburgh. My grandfather was from a little town called Tiba, just outside of Jerusalem on the West Bank. And he came over in the '20s; was in the carpet business, you know, sort of the door-to door-thing. A lot of people from the Middle East, I think, were in that. He ended up doing very well, both in that business and in the real estate business. Both of them Marc Marotta Interview Transcript A Proxmire Oral History Project died, really, like, two weeks apart - both my grandmother and grandfather, who were divorced for, I don't know, as long as I could ever remember, but kind of always did things together with that family - died two weeks apart in 1986. Wow. Tell me about choosing Pittsburgh, why either side of the family chose Pittsburgh. Do you know? You know, I really don't know. It's a good question. I think that a lot of this has to do with where your ancestors ended up before you came over, you know. Pittsburgh has a heavy population of Napolitans on the Italian side, just like Milwaukee is virtually all - any Italian who grew up in Milwaukee is Sicilian. And so I think that a lot of them sort of migrated to the place, or immigrated to the place, that they knew from their home country. Right, right. So your mother's family was in the carpet business. What did your father do for a living? My father was - for a long time, he was a draftsman. This is before the CAD [computer aided design] systems came out and all the technology, and so engineers had to utilize draftsman, actually, to do that kind of work. And then he later, I'd say probably in the early '80s, during a really tough economic time in Pittsburgh where unemployment was in the low twenties, he worked in the Veterans Administration for a little while just to sort of earn a living, and did that for two years. And then joined my grandfather's business, and he's been involved in that since. Marc Marotta Interview Transcript 5 Proxmire Oral History Project Now, was religion big in the family? Raised Roman Catholic. My mother was Syrian - she was raised Syrian Orthodox, but her family wasn't as religious. We went to church every Sunday. I went to Saint Andrews Preschool. I went to kindergarten at a public school but then Sacred Heart Grade School, Central Catholic High School, Marquette University. But that really wasn't - it was because those were good schools and they had good values. It didn't really have any particular - you know, the fact that they were religious schools, I don't think it was the determining factor. How about a Palestinian identity? Did that come down to you ? Yeah, yeah. You know, that was obviously - my grandfather grew up in what was then Palestine and so that issue, the dispute in the Middle East and all the Middle Eastern issues, was the subject at the dinner table pretty frequently. How would you characterize your family's political activities or affiliations? My family actually wasn't all that active politically. I'd say they leaned Democratic. Pittsburgh, at the time, was a pretty heavily Democratic town, blue collar town - still is. But my father voted for Reagan in 1980, and he's told me that that's the only time he's ever voted for a Republican and the only time he will. So, who knows? (laughter) One of his regrets in life? Marc Marotta interview Transcript 6 Proxmire Oral History Project Yeah, I guess so. When did you become interested in politics? Was that early on or later in your [adult life]? You know, really later. I would do some volunteering here and there when I was growing up in Pittsburgh for local offices, people that I knew, fathers of friends of mine who were running for local offices. But I really became interested in my freshman year at Marquette. I had a class with Father Tim O'Brien, who now heads the Aspen Institute - Aspen Center for Political Science in Washington. [I] had him my freshman year and it was a general political science course, and became very interested in politics. At that time, [I] was exposed to some Wisconsin politicians, including Senator Proxmire, Les Aspin, Clement Zablocki, a couple others that I met. And that caused my interest level to rise in politics. So you came to Marquette in 1980. 1980; yep, in the fall of'80. What did you know about Wisconsin? I'd been here twice - two or three times. Marquette used to utilize this medalist basketball camp as sort of a recruiting tool. So they'd invite high school players to come and be counselors, and that was my exposure to - and so I'd been, you know, in Milwaukee a couple of times. You Marc Marotta Interview Transcript 7 Proxmire Oral History Project know, it was very much like Pittsburgh - an ethnic melting pot, industrial based, people were friendly. Although for me, it was a place where I could have my own identity and yet still feel very comfortable with the people that I was going to be surrounded with at Marquette and throughout the city.

Load more