William Kasik


William R. Kasik was a Wisconsin businessman and insurance agent who served one term as a Republican member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 19th Milwaukee County district.

Background

Kasik was born in Milwaukee on June 13, 1920, and attended Milwaukee Country Day School and Milwaukee University School. He served in the United States Army during World War II, in 1942 and 1943. He was serving as vice-president of English Woolen Mills when he was elected to the Assembly.

Legislative service

In 1954, Kasik was nominated to the Assembly from the 19th Milwaukee County district, which included the Town of Milwaukee, Bayside, Fox Point, Glendale, Granville, River Hills, Shorewood, and Whitefish Bay. Prior to redistricting, most of the district had been represented by fellow Republican Arthur R. Godar. He was nominated with only a plurality of votes in the Republican primary ; but had less trouble in the general election, defeating Democrat Stanley Lieberman by 15,685 to 6778. He was assigned to the standing committees on insurance and banking, and on taxation; and to a special committee on Urban Development. He was one of the sponsors of an unsuccessful bill for a statewide referendum in favor of a right-to-work law.
In 1956, Kasik served as an Eisenhower delegate to the 1956 Republican National Convention. He ran for the Republican nomination for the 4th Wisconsin State Senate district, losing narrowly to eventual winner Kirby Hendee in a three-way primary race in which he carried the rest of the district, but lost by a hefty margin in Hendee's home village of Shorewood. Kasik was succeeded by fellow Republican Jerris Leonard.

After the Assembly

At a 1957 Milwaukee County Republican meeting, Kasik referred to the state's United States senators Alexander Wiley and Joe McCarthy as "the senior the junior windbags from Wisconsin".
In 1964, Kasik was one of three challengers to incumbent State Representative J. Curtis McKay of Ozaukee County in the Republican primary, coming in second with 1495 to McKay's 2317; McKay went on to win re-election in the general election, although the Goldwater candidacy was generally considered a disaster for the Republican Party statewide.
In 1979, Kasik was again a candidate for a Republican assembly nomination, but his candidacy was clouded by allegations that he had borrowed excessively from his mother's estate; he came in a distant third, with less than one-fourth the votes of eventual victor Betty Jo Nelsen.