Scott Walker spoke at CPAC yesterday, and cited Ronald Reagan as his inspiration for serving in government. As governor of Wisconsin, he has led a real reformation for a state that was headed down the same crapper that Illinois is in now:
- In 2010, a survey of employers found that only 10% thought the state was headed in the right direction. Now, 94% believe it’s headed in the right direction
- Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is 7.1%. Illinois, after raising personal taxes 67%, and corporate taxes 46%, now has an unemployment rate of 9.8%
- After five years of property tax levies going up by an average of $220 milli0n per year, they went down by $47 million last year
Walker gives several other reasons why Wisconsin is turning around. So why is he facing a recall election? Simple:
The big government union bosses from Washington want their money. They don’t like the fact that I did something fundamentally pro-worker; something that’s truly about freedom. I gave every one of the nearly 300,000 hard-working public servants in my state the right to choose. Now, each of them gets to determine whether they want to be in a union or not; and the unions can no longer automatically deduct dues from their paycheck. For a teacher in Milwaukee, that means as much as $1,400 that he or she can keep and spend on their retirement contribution or on health insurance or their kids’ college education.
The big government union bosses are worried that workers may actually choose to keep the money for themselvers. That’s why the big government union bosses spent tens of millions last summer to try and win the six state senate recall elections in Wisconsin. In fact, the total amount spent by all parties was over $40 million. And it’s why many observers believe that $70 million or more may be spent on the race for governor this year. The largest amount of that will come from out-of-state, big government unions. On top of that, liberal groups like MoveOn.org and Organizing for America are already descending like vultures on Wisconsin.
They understand that this recall election is about much more than who is the Governor of Wisconsin. In fact, it is even bigger than what it means for the elections in November of 2012.
Walker’s speech goes on to explain that if he loses, it will “set back acts of courage in politics by a decade, if not a generation.”
Read the whole thing at the Washington Examiner
