Governor candidate Scott Walker calls for tax cuts, job creation

Send to friend

By RICK OLIVO
The Daily Press - Ashland

Walker has served in Milwaukee County's top elective post since 2002, having been re-elected in 2004 and 2008.

Walker is a resident of Wauwatosa, where he and wife Tonette have two sons, Matt and Alex. He is a native of Delavan in Walworth County and has served in the state Legislature before becoming Milwaukee County Executive.

He attended Marquette University, but left in his senior year to go to work for the American Red Cross.

Walker says his position is "probably the closest thing you can get to being governor."

"We've got about a $1.4 billion budget, 5,700 employees and I have a cabinet and I present a budget just like the governor does to the Legislature," he said.

Wisconsin Is headed into the widest-open gubernatorial race the state has had since 1982, with the field open not only on the Republican side, but with Governor Jim Doyle's announcement that he will not seek a third term, the same situation for Democrats.

"It's phenomenally open," noted Walker.

Walker said he was the best candidate for the job because of his fiscal skills, honed in years of developing budgets for the state's most populous county.

"When you look at what the governor is going to inherit, in terms of a huge budget mess, huge problems, and looking at what I inherited eight years ago in Milwaukee County with a tremendous pension scandal, a major structural deficit, what we showed was we were able to lower the debt, reduce the size of our work force and improve our bond rating and do eight consecutive budgets without raising the property tax levy from the previous year," he said.

Walker said in 2009, when the state faced its largest deficit ever, Milwaukee County managed to produce a budget surplus.

"When I tell people to look at what I've done, actions speak louder than words," he said. "We took an incredible mess, and although it's not perfect, we've turned it around," he said. "If we can take on the political machine in Milwaukee and win, there is no doubt we can do it in Madison."

Walker said his campaign would emphasize jobs and the economy.

"There are two very different views between what I have and what the Mayor of Milwaukee, Tom Barrett, has," he said.

Barrett is widely seen as the Democrat who is most likely to be that party's standard-bearer in November.

"He, just like Jim Doyle before him, largely has put his faith in the government, more spending, taxes, more programs," Walker said.

"I think if you are going to unleash particularly small and mid-sized businesses in this state, you've got to reduce the cost of doing business, and that means lower taxes on businesses, as well as on individuals. It means limiting regulations, limiting litigation and providing health care so that it is affordable, not through the government running it but allowing the market to drive those decisions."

Walker noted that he has been in the Ashland area several times in the past, as part of a charitable Harley-Davidson ride he participates in annually.

"I hear a lot from people who ask if candidates from Milwaukee really care about the people in these areas. I think my track record shows that I have been here and I continue to be here as a candidate and I will be here as a governor, because every part of the state is important to me," he said.

"The one thing I'd like to be certain of if I am governor is that Wisconsin is in its best position possible to take advantage of what will be, God willing, a recovery from the recession," Walker said. "That means if we reduce the burden on our employers we make it attractive not just to come here but more importantly, to take the businesses that are currently here in Wisconsin and allow them to feel like they can afford to add workers.

Walker said if every employer could add 4 to 5 percent to their payroll, every job lost in the recession would be restored.

"To me, that is an aggressive but realistic goal and one that would put our people back to work," he said.

In his remarks to the Lincoln Day gathering, Walker said as governor he would keep his promise to "spend taxpayer money as if it were my own," and outlined his plans to bring jobs back to Wisconsin. Walker asserted that fiscal discipline was needed in the state to restore the economy.

"By almost any measure, Wisconsin is no longer considered a good place to do business, and citizens across our great state are scared about the economy and their jobs, their homes and their families," said Walker. "Unless we take immediate and significant action to turn our economy around, Wisconsin will continue to lag near the bottom in rankings for job growth."

Walker told the crowd that government should "look at a budget the way we do our family budget, cutting out waste and finding ways to do more, with less."

Walker ended his remarks with a message of hope.

"The State of Wisconsin's economy is weak, but the determination of our people is very strong.  We must remove the barriers to economic growth by lowering taxes, reducing runaway government spending, improving education, and putting an end to excessive regulation," he said. "That way we will protect our family budgets and protect Wisconsin jobs. Working together, we will take back our government and build a Wisconsin we can believe in again."