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Walker pledges to cut 4,000 unfilled state jobs (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Send to friendMadison - Milwaukee County executive Scott Walker pledged Thursday to save an estimated $284 million a year by cutting 4,000 unfilled jobs in state government if he's elected governor.
A state budget crisis has caused Gov. Jim Doyle's administration to leave some 4,700 jobs open to help the state balance its books.
"Unlike the bureaucrats in Madison, I say if we can live without 4,000 state employees for this long, we can live without them forever - that's why in my first budget they will be off the taxpayer's payroll, this time, for good," Walker said in a statement.
Walker has already said he would save $176 million by requiring state employees to pay for part of their pension contributions.
Walker's rival in the GOP primary for governor, former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann, has pledged to hold growth in state spending to at least 1 percentage point less than the rate of inflation.
Their Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, has put forward plans to cut waste and fraud that he says would save the state $1.1 billion a year.
