James Francis Rooney (born September 29, 1935) is a retired American public administrator and Democratic politician from Racine, Wisconsin.
After leaving the Assembly, Rooney served another 24 years as chairman of the Wisconsin Waterways Commission (1985–2019) and was one of the key architects of Racine's lakefront revitalization.
Brown did not run for election in the new seat, but Rooney did face an opponent in the Democratic primary—former radio news director John Flanagan.
[15] Concurrent with this service, in 1985, Governor Tony Earl appointed Rooney to chair the Wisconsin Waterways Commission, which he had largely been responsible for creating in 1977.
[16] Rooney had been critical of previous governors' appointments to the commission, which lacked representation from southeast lakefront communities which failed to prioritize improvements on Lake Michigan; with the support of Governor Earl and State Representative Jeffrey A. Neubauer, Rooney quickly began allocating grant money to Racine lakeshore improvements.
[17] Rooney was reappointed by governors Tommy Thompson, Jim Doyle, and Scott Walker and continued to serve as chairman of the commission until March 2019.
[18] In 1998, Rooney returned to politics, narrowly winning another term on the County Board of Supervisors over local newspaper publisher Ken Lumpkin.
Delagrave remarked, "Racine's Lakefront, Marina and breakwater area are irreplaceable resources forour city and our county as a whole.