Theodore Kanavas

Theodore "Ted" Kanavas (born April 29, 1961) is an American politician and former member of the Wisconsin State Senate, representing the state's thirty-third district. He is a member of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.^[1]

Kanavas was raised in Brookfield, Wisconsin and graduated from Brookfield East High School. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1983. While attending the school, Kanavas worked as an aide to Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner. Kanavas subsequently attended Pepperdine University's school of law.

For the past seventeen years Kanavas has worked in the software industry.

Kanavas was elected to the school board for Elmbrook School District in 1999, and served until 2002. In July 2001, he was elected to the State Senate in a special election, defeating Democrat Dawn Marie Sass, and he was re-elected in 2002. He also won re-election in 2006 defeating Democratic candidate Andrew Stiffler by nearly 25,000 votes.

Kanavas is known for his efforts to promote job creation and economic development. His legislative successes include passage of the Broadband Deployment Act, the Angel Investment tax credits (known as Act 255) and passage of his Film Wisconsin tax credit bill allowing movie and television production companies to claim a tax credit for work done in Wisconsin. In January 2008, the Michael Mann film Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp became the first production to take advantage of Wisconsin's film tax credits.

Kanavas attends the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church^{[citation needed]} and coaches his son's youth baseball team. He and his wife, Mary, have three children; Kelly, Nick and Kate.

On January 25, 2010, Senator Kanavas announced he will not seek reelection.^[2] After briefly considering a challenge against United States Senator Russ Feingold, Kanavas decided against entering the race.^[3]

Following the announcement that long-time Senator Herb Kohl would not seek reelection in the US Senate in 2012, Kanavas was immediately mentioned by the media as a possible Republican contender for the Senate seat.^[4] On September 29, 2011, Kanavas announced he would not run for the seat citing concerns that former Governor Tommy Thompson's entrance in the race would tie up too many resources.^[5]

Notes

External links

• Citizen Legislator Ted Kanavas' Blog
• Follow the Money - Theodore J Kanavas
  • 2006 2004 2002 campaign contributions