Walker Speaks on His Candidacy for Governor

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Here and Now

Wisconsin Public Television

Frederica Freyberg:
While holding the line on taxes, a key prong of Republican candidate for governor Scott Walker and current Milwaukee County Executive. Thank you for joining us.

Scott Walker:
Good to be with you.

Frederica Freyberg:
As we all know, Jim Doyle is out for a candidate for governor. Should you prevail in the primary, who do you think you will be running against?

Scott Walker:
I really don't know. For me, this race was never about Jim Doyle. It's not about me. It's about the people of the state who care deeply about how great we once were and how great we can be in the future. This race has been and will continue to be about jobs.

Frederica Freyberg:
In one sentence, if you could, and it can be a long sentence, tell us who you would be as
governor.  

Scott Walker:
I'd be the chief advocate. For too long we've had the chief bureaucrat in the state of Wisconsin. I want to be the chief advocate for the people and employers who make the state work.

Frederica Freyberg:
And how do you advocate for us and for businesses?

Scott Walker:
Well, clearly it's a total change of government. Even our Department of Commerce currently seems to be more the regulation of commerce than the promotion or advocacy. I look at tax burden. In my current job, I've lowered our debt at the same time period that Gov. Doyle has been in office, I've been in office, I've lowered the debt by 10 percent, reduced the size of my workforce by over 20 percent, had a balanced budget and did it for seven straight previous budgets without a property tax levy increase from the last year. I'd look at doing some of the same things, lowering the burden in this state of debt that's driving us down, making sure we had a balanced budget instead of the record deficit. Most importantly, I would dramatically cut the tax burden, both on individuals as well as on corporations so we could bring more jobs back to the state of Wisconsin and retain the jobs we currently have.

Frederica Freyberg:
Now, as you say, difficult budgets are going to face the next governor and as Milwaukee County Executive your upcoming budget, you're proposing privatizing services, cutting services, cutting employee compensation and there was even a move out there to sell the Milwaukee airport. I think now you're talking about leasing the airport. But is that the kind of thing that voters could expect Scott Walker to do as governor for the state?

Scott Walker:
Well, one clarification. My budget will come out September 24. Those have been ideas that have been floated by various department heads. Certainly contracting out for services. No doubt about it. Many if not all of my social services in the future will be more about community partner like Catholic and Lutheran social services, Goodwill, other community-based partners who don't carry the type of legacy costs that public sector employee-base systems do. That would be the sort of thing we'd look at in the future. The people who pay for government shouldn't be paying considerably more for health care and other benefits than the people that are provided those salaries for those taxpayers.

Frederica Freyberg:
What might you privatize at the state level?

Scott Walker:
We look across the board. Certainly we’re not gonna do it as Gov. Doyle did in his first term to try to magically reduce the numbers. Remember Gov. Doyle tried to privatize health care in the corrections system and engineering, both of which cost the taxpayers more. I think government should be something that's run well and efficiently, not just with arbitrary targets out there. We'll look at almost every area, whether it's some areas of the department of motor vehicles, whether it's looking at things in corrections, for example, in terms of actually holding inmates. Years ago we used to have prisoners out-of-state. I think when it's a lower cost that's something we should look at. In the end the bottom line is to balance the budget without raising taxes and ideally lower the tax burden and regulatory burden so we can retain the jobs we have and grow those companies here in Wisconsin and try and attract new businesses to the state of Wisconsin so there are more jobs.

Frederica Freyberg:
Would you make changes in Wisconsin education? What would you do for schools?

Scott Walker:
Well, for us, I've got two kids at Wauwatosa East High School, I should say, went to public school myself down in a small town in Walworth County here in Wisconsin. Love the public schools. I've been a great supporter of charter schools, homeschool education. I'm more focused not on the system, but rather on making sure that every child in every family in the state of Wisconsin has access to a quality system. That doesn't always mean more dollars. It means investing those dollars in the most effective way possible. That's something over the next 14 months we're going to spend the time outlining that after listening to people. I think too many politicians talk at people. We're going to listen as well as outline our own strategy.

Frederica Freyberg:
I think you've proven you are fiscally conservative. Socially conservative, how would you rank yourself, one to 10?

Scott Walker:
I don't know about rankings. Issue by issue varies. I've been called a conservative both fiscally and socially. As a chief executive officer of a company or in this case in the largest government in the state other than state government, I've shown I'm a guy who gets the job done. In this climate just as it was in 1980 when the nation faced a recession, just as it was in 1986 when Tommy Thompson came in under similar circumstances, they want a doer, an advocate, somebody who is going to get the state working again. If I can take on the political machine and win three times in Milwaukee County, I think I can do the same thing in Madison and get this state working again.

Frederica Freyberg:
Scott Walker, thanks very much.

Scott Walker:
Good to be with you.

Frederica Freyberg:
Over the coming weeks, we will be talking with all the announced candidates for governor.

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