Gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker admittedly raised some hackles recently when he predicted the state could create 250,000 new jobs (by the end of his first term) with a low-tax-rate approach, but he has historical precedent to back him up.
During Tommy Thompson’s first term, from 1987 to 1991, Walker reminded a recent Madison gathering that 258,000 new jobs were created in Wisconsin. He also reminded them that Thompson was first elected governor in 1986, when he defeated an incumbent Governor that critics dubbed “Tony the Taxer,” and then proceeded to whack tax rates Soprano style.
The state’s economy, a bit sluggish despite a strong national expansion, was the issue that year, as it will be in 2010. More specifically, the issue will be job creation because the current lack of it could make this yet another change election.
Walker, speaking to employees of the engineering firm Mead & Hunt, is unabashedly frugal, and he has the “cred” and the scars to brag about it. A former state legislator, he was elected Milwaukee County Executive in a 2002 special election after the incumbent was forced to resign due to a pension scandal, and he is one of the rare public officials who consistently balances the budget without raising taxes. About the only time he falls short of his promise to hold down spending is when the Milwaukee County Board overrides his vetoes.
He sets priorities, he has employed privatization (something he might also do at the state level), and he understands what investments drive economic growth and which do not. Thanks in part to public improvements, Milwaukee County recently reported a 34% increase in passengers at Mitchell International Airport.
Toward that end, he would attempt to redirect some of the $810 million designated to build the Milwaukee to Madison high-speed rail line into, in his view, more relevant transportation improvements. There is a precedent here as well from the late 1990s, when the aforementioned Thompson was able to convince a Republican Congress to redirect some transit money to repair roads and bridges.
Mostly, he plans to lower tax rates (to stimulate the economy and generate more actual revenue) and make sure regulations don’t make the job of job creators more difficult. What impressed me most is that he noted that government doesn’t create jobs; it can create conditions (through tax, regulation, and other policies) in which jobs can be gained or lost, but the private sector really creates them.
At last, someone in politics is grounded in reality rather than grab-the-credit narcissism. I’m more inclined to support government executives who understand the business community is their partner, not their piggy bank.
Walker likes to cite the difference between Texas and California. The economy of the Lone Star State is outperforming the national economy, while the Golden State is a basket case, collapsing under its own spending weight. Texas keeps tax rates low, watches its spending, and keeps regulations reasonable, and as a result its fiscal situation is relatively stable. California is sending out IOUs to its creditors. People and businesses are moving to Texas; people and business can’t depart California fast enough. They take their tax dollars with them.
The father of two boys who attend public schools, Walker supports giving the consumers of education services (parents and their children) more choices, including Charter schools. I’m with him here, too. It never fails to amaze me how public education, which has resisted school choice, is about the only service that we rely on (and pay for) that thinks it has the divine right to tell consumers where to shop — in this case, education consumers.
Regarding health care, Walker notes that quality and access are not the problem in Wisconsin. The problem here is cost — specifically, the cost to employers. For those frustrated people (like me) who believe a truly free market has never really been tried in health care, Walker has some welcome news: he favors market-driven solutions. He also talks of more disclosure of health outcomes for group purchasers, and of purchasing pools, both of which are among the better features of the recently enacted health care bill.
Walker’s critics in Milwaukee County say he’s frugal to a fault, and cite a real or imagined decline in county parks and other quality-of-life amenities. He denies this and indicates he’s ready to fend off other attacks. Democrats who think they can use “it’s Bush’s fault” this fall might be in for a surprise when Walker declines to accept that diagnosis; he’s keenly aware of the liberal/government role in the nation’s economic collapse, and he appears ready to put it back in their faces.
In one sense, Walker strikes me a younger, more polished version of Thompson, the kind Tommy said it was time for when he declined to run for the U.S. Senate last week. In another sense, he reminds me of a state government version of Congressman Paul Ryan, a potential Speaker of the House. If Walker is the Republican nominee for Governor this fall, he will be the most formidable GOP candidate since Thompson.
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