[2] After leaving the Air Force, he returned to Crivitz and soon became the owner of a restaurant known as Matty's Steak House, which he operated for the next 25 years.
[5] In 1970, Matty launched a primary challenge against incumbent Republican state representative William LaFave, in what was then the Florence–Marinette district.
This time Matty prevailed with 70% of the primary vote and went on to win the general election with 59%, defeating Democrat Robert La Count.
[8] He won re-election seven times, serving until August 1987, when he resigned to accept an appointment to a role in the administration of new governor Tommy Thompson, a close personal friend of Matty.
[11] Just a few months later, however, Matty was given a seven day suspension after accidentally placing a tourism ad in a pornographic Japanese magazine.
At the time, Secretary of Development Robert Trunzo elaborated that the suspension was due to a "series of bad judgments".
[14] After the 1990 election, in which Thompson won a second term, Matty briefly returned to state government employment as a business liaison in the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, but was forced out again under pressure from the legislature.
[15] After leaving government again, Matty went to work as a spokesperson for the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, during their effort to start a casino.