A former Republican senator from Wisconsin, George Petak, has died at the age of 75.
Petak, who served in the state senate from 1991 to 1996, is mostly known for passing a controversial tax to build the ballpark used by the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team. He paid a price for the vote, as he was recalled from his seat by angry constituents.
The Republican died on Christmas Eve from cancer, his son Brian said.
"Today is the 53rd anniversary of Dad's surrendering his life to Jesus on Christmas Eve 1971. He went home to be with him on Christmas Eve 2024," Petak's son, Rev. Brian Petak, of Monument, Colorado, wrote on Facebook.
In 1995, Petak cast the most critical vote of his career when he broke the tie on a .1% sales tax increase to pay for Miller Park, known today as American Family Field.
The next year, he lost his seat in a recall vote. The tax raised $600 million before it expired in 2020.
Petak always stood by his vote, even though it cost him his seat in the Senate.
"I did what I thought was in the best interests of the state and have been viewed as both a traitor and hero, all in the same breath, actually," he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
"I'm as convinced as I ever have been that losing major league baseball would be a devastating blow to the economy and the quality of life that a major league franchise brings to southeast Wisconsin," he said. "None of that has changed. That has been my sentiment all along."
Former Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig paid tribute, calling Petak an unsung hero of baseball.
Without him, Wisconsin would not have the Brewers, he said.
"I was saddened to hear of the passing of George Petak. I spoke to George a couple of weeks ago and I think all of us should remember that he was a great hero in Milwaukee and Wisconsin," Selig said in a statement.
"As so often happens, heroes have to pay a tough price, but he was willing to do so. So in the coming years when you enter American Family Field and think of the Brewers, remember George played a vital and very important part of keeping the Brewers in Wisconsin. He was in my mind always a true Milwaukee and Wisconsin hero," Selig said.
