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Editor’s Note: Hmm...
substitute Kasich for Walker, and Ohio for Wisconsin. Is it a new
“mold”?
Human Events...
Why Scott Walker
Drives Liberals Crazy
by John Hayward
05/20/2011
[This article was originally published in the May 16th issue of HUMAN
EVENTS newspaper.]
When Scott Walker arrived in the Wisconsin governor’s mansion, he found
that every window had a commanding view of the state’s enormous budget
gap. Wisconsin was $3.3 billion in the hole. Governments
usually try to fill such holes by finding a shovel and a big pile of
taxpayer money, but Wisconsin’s economy was already buried under
job-killing taxes and regulations.
Walker moved quickly to implement the programs he campaigned on, most
famously the public-union reforms that sent Democrat legislators
fleeing to hotels in Illinois and filled the capitol with
demonstrators. One side effect of this nationally watched
political drama was that Madison students can now easily identify Hosni
Mubarak, because his photo appeared on a thousand placards declaring
Gov. Walker to be his love child. Another, more welcome, effect
was that Walker touched off a national conversation about
collective-bargaining privileges for public employees, setting an
example of commitment and resolve for other Republicans to follow.
The governor had more on his mind than public-union reforms. In
his February 2011 State of the State address, he outlined several
important pieces of legislation he signed during his first 30 days in
office, bills that eliminated the taxes on health savings accounts,
reduced frivolous lawsuits, and expanded tax credits for relocation and
economic development.
All of these measures were aimed at improving Wisconsin’s economy and
job markets. As Walker ruefully noted in his speech, the
litigation environment in Wisconsin had investors calling it “Alabama
North,” a reference to the business-killing free-fire zone in Alabama
courts.
In addition to providing tax incentives for employers to relocate to
Wisconsin, Walker drove a rhetorical ice-cream truck through the gloomy
business environment of Illinois, hoping to attract the attention of
overtaxed and overregulated entrepreneurs. In a Chicago Tribune
op-ed piece he wrote with Wisconsin House Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, he
touted his achievements “in contrast to the mess in Illinois.”
“Wisconsin is open for business,” Walker and Fitzgerald wrote.
“We are reducing taxes on our businesses and health savings accounts,
reforming our state’s regulatory and litigation environment, and
transforming our Department of Commerce into a public-private
partnership that focuses on economic growth. Of special note to
companies south of our border, we are passing legislation that will
exempt companies that come to Wisconsin from corporate taxes for two
years.
“During that time, we’ll be continuing to lower taxes, curb spending
and transform Wisconsin’s business environment,” they promised.
“Our hard work begins with this year’s budget, where we will reduce
spending by making the long-term reforms necessary for a sustainable
balanced budget, all without raising taxes.” Illinois Democrat
Gov. Pat Quinn, meanwhile, was signing a combination of tax hikes and
spending increases, which the editors of the Tribune described as a
“fiasco” in an editorial titled “Goodbye, Jobs.”
“To those of you who are frustrated with the high cost of doing
business in Illinois,” Walker and Fitzgerald declared, “our message is
clear: Escape to Wisconsin !” They actually put this
message on billboards aimed across the state line into Illinois .
Walker’s reforms appear to be working. A recent survey of “Best
& Worst States” conducted by Chief Executive magazine showed
Wisconsin jumping an incredible 17 spots higher in the past year, from
No. 41 to No. 24. Illinois, meanwhile, fell three spots last year.
Walker diagnosed Wisconsin’s problem as “repeated raids on segregated
funds, excessive borrowing for operations, and an addiction to one-shot
infusions of federal dollars.” He saw that only a robust business
environment could provide a constant, reliable revenue stream to close
that budget deficit, while he worked to bring government spending under
control.
His efforts to control public-sector benefit costs—a ticking bomb that
will detonate and demolish many state budgets over the next few
years—grabbed all the media attention, but his insights on the
importance of sustainable revenue from a robust private sector are
equally valuable. Hungry governments are all too willing to kill
the geese that lay their golden eggs. Many state governments
suffer from endless commitments they made after receiving temporary
infusions of revenue long ago.
Walker has always prided himself on having trimmed the state budget
without triggering any massive layoffs. He told Fox News host
Sean Hannity in a March interview that his reforms would protect
“middle-class taxpayers, because in all of these other states where
they’re cutting, they are forcing massive layoffs or massive property
tax increases. In our state, we’re doing something better than
that. We put through true reform that will make for better
government and, ultimately, a better deal for our taxpayers.”
In the same interview, Walker ascribed the vicious battle over
public-union reforms to Wisconsin’s status as an important swing
state: “We are one of the most competitive states in presidential
elections. … That’s why the President interjected his political
team. It’s why the national political bosses have come in from
the unions from Washington, D.C., because they view this as
political. And in end, it’s really not about protecting their
members’ and workers’ rights. It was about keeping the money they
get from union dues here.” Walker was referring to the practice
of states automatically deducting union dues from paychecks on behalf
of union management—a practice he ended in Wisconsin. A cynical
observer might say that was the only reform union bosses really cared
about.
Walker’s adversaries at both the local and national levels like to crow
about the damage his controversial positions have inflicted on his poll
numbers. Supposedly Wisconsin voters have fallen in love with the
dashing Democrats who fled the state to avoid a tough vote, and can’t
wait to recall the Republicans who stayed behind to do their
duty. They absolutely love funding lavish benefits for their
public-union betters, won during collective bargaining “negotiations”
at which no one represents the taxpayers, and despise Walker for doing
exactly what he campaigned on in 2010.
The funny thing is, Walker keeps winning the polls that really
count. The recent Wisconsin Supreme Court election turned into an
embarrassing rout for the unions’ chosen candidate, JoAnne
Kloppenburg. She was supposed to be the avatar of public fury,
while her opponent, David Prosser, was a voodoo doll of Scott
Walker. Instead, Kloppenburg ended up as a bitter footnote in
Wisconsin history, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on a prolonged,
futile recount that did little damage to her opponent’s 7,000-vote
margin of victory.
A lot has happened since Scott Walker took up residence in the
governor’s mansion, not even six months ago. He is a modest but
determined man, living in interesting times.
Read it at Human Events
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