A Democrat, he served 34 years in the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing Green Bay and northern Brown County.
[1] His legislative service earned him the nickname Concrete Clete for his efforts to fund roads, highways, and bridges throughout the state.
[5] He won a close contest in the Democratic primary but fell short of Republican Edward A. Seymour in the general election.
[6] Vanderperren returned for a rematch in 1958, and this time narrowly defeated Seymour, taking 52% of the vote in the midterm election year.
[7] Despite difficult elections in his original district, where he rarely received more than 52% of the vote, Vanderperren would go on to win reelection sixteen times through three redistrictings.
He was a longtime advocate for the creation of a University of Wisconsin System branch at Green Bay, which he achieved in a 1965 law in collaboration with Kenosha representative George Molinaro and with the support of Republican Governor Warren P. Knowles.