Garey Bies

Garey Bies (born 1946) is a politician and former deputy sheriff from Sister Bay, Wisconsin who served as a Republican Party member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing the 1st Assembly District from 2001–2015. He served as a member of the committees on Natural Resources, Tourism, Recreation, and State Property; Transportation, Veterans and Military Affairs, and as the chair of the Committee on Corrections and Courts.[1]

Bies was born in Manitowoc, graduated from Lincoln High School, and later earned an associate degree from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.[2] He served in the Navy for five years and worked in law enforcement for 30 years, retiring as chief deputy sheriff of Door County.[2][3]

Bies was first elected to the Assembly in 2000, defeating the Democratic candidate, former State Representative Lary J. Swoboda with 16,132 votes to 12,104 for Swoboda. He was re-elected in each biennial election after that, through 2012.

Bies deplored what he describes as the one-sided lack of civility exhibited by Democrats during the 2011-2012 Assembly sessions.[3] He voted for tax cuts for businesses to attract new businesses to Wisconsin and to encourage the expansion of existing businesses.[3] He says that the purpose of government is to "lay the rules down to protect the people".[3]

In 2014, rather than seek re-election, Bies chose to seek the Republican nomination for Wisconsin Secretary of State. He lost in the Republican primary of August 12, 2014, with 75,340 votes (35%) to 138,734 votes (65%) for Julian Bradley.[4] He was succeeded in the Assembly by Republican Joel Kitchens, who defeated Democrat Joe Majeski in the 2014 general election.[5]