Roger Rivard (born August 27, 1952) is a former member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing northwest Wisconsin's 75th Assembly District from January 3, 2011, to January 3, 2013. A lifelong resident of Rice Lake, Wisconsin, Rivard was the first Republican to hold the office in 32 years.
As a freshman lawmaker, he co-sponsored legislation to allow the hunting of gray wolves and to reform the oversight of mining. His proposal to increase the number of rural economic development zones was passed into law; Rivard has said the legislation has brought 600 jobs to the state. He also voted in favor of Governor Scott Walker's budget fix, which limited the collective bargaining rights of public workers, and in favor of the Governor's 2011-2013 budget bill, which reduced funding for education in order to balance the budget.
Prior to the 2012 election, Rivard received national media attention for comments he made about a sexual assault case involving a 17-year-old and a 14-year-old who lived in his district. He subsequently lost his 2012 bid for reelection.
Biography
Rivard was born in Rice Lake, Wisconsin and is one of the seven children of Eileen Rivard, a schoolteacher, and Wilfred Rivard, the owner and operator of Rivard's Dairy Bar. Beginning at a young age, Roger worked in the family business.
He received his diploma from Rice Lake High School in 1970 and attended the Barron County branch campus of the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. He married and started his first business at age 19. He began selling recreational vehicles, owning and operating Rivard's Campers. Before entering politics, he was working as a real estate sales agent, broker and developer.
He is a member of the Diocese of Superior Pastoral Council. Previously, he was president of the Rice Lake Chamber of Commerce, state director of the Wisconsin Realtors Association and grand knight of the Knights of Columbus.
Wisconsin State Representative
Rivard represented the 75th Assembly District which includes most of Barron County, the southern third of Washburn County and three townships in Polk County.
Elected in November 2010 to fill a seat that had been occupied by Democrats for the previous 32 years, Rivard became one of 27 first-term Assembly Republicans; a group that comprised more than 40 percent of the new Republican majority. Shortly after the election, Rivard told the Associated Press, "We understand that we've got the power in numbers but .... [w]e're not going to go down there and push everybody around. That would be foolishness. But we are going to hold everyone's feet to the fire and control government spending." Rivard was given the following Assembly committee assignments: Natural Resources (vice chairperson); Housing; Rural Economic Development and Rural Affairs.
As a freshman lawmaker, Rivard co-sponsored legislation to allow the public to hunt and trap gray wolves in Wisconsin. The bill was supported by several hunting groups, but opposed by wolf scientists who claimed it went too far and would result in a wolf population reduction from as many as 1,000 animals to as few as 350. Rivard disagreed with the numbers estimates and said the purpose of the bill was to secure the wolves' future in Wisconsin. He also co-sponsored and helped introduce legislation to reform mining laws, including one law that would streamline the permitting process for iron mining that he said would create thousands of jobs and bring billions in economic activity to northern Wisconsin. The bill, which was criticized as weakening state mining regulations and as possibly authored by a mining corporation, passed the Assembly but was voted down by the Senate. Four months into his tenure, Rivard's first bill—to increase the number of rural economic development zones—passed the Assembly, and soon passed the Senate. He has said the new law has resulted in an aircraft plant moving to Superior, Wisconsin, bringing 600 jobs to the state and he announced on October 10, 2012, that a company soon would be moving between 75 and 80 jobs back from China to Rice Lake.