James Scott McCallum was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, the eldest of four children. His father worked as a construction worker and his mother was a homemaker and bank teller. In 1967, he attended a youth leadership program, Badger Boys State, as a representative chosen from his high school. He graduated from Macalester College in 1972 with a degree in economics and political science. He earned his master's degree in international economics from Johns Hopkins University in 1974. He is of the Christian Science religion. McCallum is married to Laurie McCallum; they have three children and reside in Lodi, Wisconsin.
Political career
Early career
In 1976 at the age of 26, McCallum won a seat in the Wisconsin State Senate, defeating a 20-year incumbent. McCallum won the Republican nomination for the United States Senate in 1982, but lost in the general election to incumbent William Proxmire. During his 10 years as state senator, McCallum was allied with the New Republican Conference, a now-defunct movement of fiscally conservative, but socially liberal, GOP activists. McCallum's legislative accomplishments included increasing penalties for drunk driving offenses and assaults on prison guards; creating a health insurance risk pool for people considered uninsurable; sunsetting outdated legislation; and indexing individual income taxes to account for inflation.
Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Wisconsin
In 1986, McCallum ran for lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket with Tommy Thompson, who was running for governor; both candidates won. McCallum chaired the National Council of Lieutenant Governors and was appointed to the Environmental Protection Agency's advisory council by President George H.W. Bush. The Thompson-McCallum ticket served the state of Wisconsin for 14 years, having been reelected in 1990, 1994 and 1998. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Thompson to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. McCallum thus served out the final two years of Thompson's fourth term, and appointed State SenatorMargaret Farrow of Pewaukee, Wisconsin, to be the state's first female lieutenant governor. As the Wisconsin governor, McCallum was cited by the Wall Street Journal during the economic slowdown in 2001 as being one of the 'political tough guys' for balancing the budget without raising taxes. As a governor he was commander-in-chief of the Wisconsin National Guard, directing emergency operations following the September 11 attacks, which resulted in him receiving the 2002 U.S. National Guard Award for his work. In 2001, McCallum launched "Invest Wisconsin," a new program to focus on the needs of state businesses and communities for investment capital. The public and private partnership was designed to increase awareness of business financing options by engaging statewide networks and professional associations. As governor he created the Department of Electronic Government and the state's first CIO through consolidation of various departments. This action saved $50 million in first year while expanding service. Today, the department is known as the "Division of Enterprise Technology" of the Wisconsin Department of Administration. Governor McCallum aggressively used the veto pen to cut expenditures throughout his time in office. It was estimated that Wisconsin taxpayers saved $62.9 million through this action. McCallum ran for a full term in 2002, but was defeated in the election by DemocraticAttorney GeneralJim Doyle. The other major party candidate running in 2002 was LibertarianEd Thompson.
