Shoemaker was born on June 11, 1951, in Beloit, Wisconsin.
Shoemaker was Supervisor of Dunn County, Wisconsin from 1976 to 1977 before serving as a member of the Assembly from 1978 to 1986.
Shoemaker was convicted in 1989 of receiving illegal money from a lobbyist, failing to disclose a loan on financial disclosure statements, using his office for personal gain, defrauding his campaign committee and filing false campaign reports.
[2] He was charged campaign fund fraud and failure to disclose personal gains.
He was found guilty and sentenced to 60 days in jail.