Apr 03 2008
Scott Walkers Dubious Odds for Becoming the Next Governor of Wisconsin
I understand Milwaukee County Exec. Scott Walker is flying high off his recent victory and all, but can anyone tell me how the man who couldn’t even win the support of his own Republican party two years ago is going to knock off twice elected Gov. Doyle in 2010? All I’ve heard from Republican friends over the past few days is how “This victory locks him in for Governor in 2010!!!”, much to my amazement.
Like I said, he couldn’t even come out ahead of Rep. Mark Green in 2006 - who proceeded to lose handily to Jim Doyle - to get the Republican nomination.
Suspending disbelief for a moment and assuming he were to get his parties nomination, what would his platform be exactly?
Look how well I’ve “held the line” on taxes in Milwaukee County and run it into the ground! or
If you think I had “innovative” and “creative” ways of screwing up a single county, just wait till I control 72 of them! or
I can’t even achieve a compromise with a legislative body who are non-partisan - just imagine how quickly state government will grind to a halt once I have to deal with an actual opposition party!
I mean, I know a doe-eyed conservative political opportunist like Walker inhabiting the Governors mansion again is the dream of every other doe-eyed conservative political opportunist in Wisconsin, but I just don’t see his campaign playing very well outside that group.
As many candidates have learned over the years, being from Milwaukee isn’t exactly a free ticket to statewide victory. It’s usually been the kiss of death.
If he somehow got the nomination, in the general election you’d just have to ask the voters whether they’d like Scott Walker to do to Wisconsin what he did to Milwaukee County.
He got lucky this year and didn’t draw a strong opponent even though he was vulnerable. But he won’t be the next governor. Get some money down on that with your optimistic GOP friends, before they come to their senses.
“Holding the line on taxes” might be a viable campaign platform for Walker. I just filed my Wisconsin tax return; to my dismay my state income tax bill totalled $2,258 while I paid $2,838 in real estate taxes, a total of $5,096. then there’s the sales taxes, gasoline taxes, city utility bills and assorted registration fees…thank God I don’t smoke. The problem for me (and many fellow retirees) is that every year I’m paying more to the state while I’m on a fixed income.
So I’m willing to listen to anyone who is serious about holding the line on taxes. The alternative is for me to start thinking seriously about sunnier climes where tax rates that are not confiscatory (and don’t get 90 inches of snow in the winter). Two of my retired neighbors have moved out of Wisconsin in the past year; one was a former public school teacher and the other a former IRS employee whose wife had worked for the DOT. People with good pensions who want to spend their retirement money, not pay it back to the state.
Brilliant political forecasting from the guy who came in 3rd.
That “doe-eyed conservative” you referred to just got 59% in Milwaukee County…the third time he’s had 56+% county-wide. After 6yrs on the job, and increasing election victory margins, it’s pretty hard to deny that people think he’s doing a pretty damn good job.
As far as the election for governor, I love how you dismiss his chances based on ‘06. Reagan lost to Ford in a ‘76 primary for president and kicked Jimmy Carter’s ass in ‘80.
The next one to two years will separate the men from the boys. Sales and income tax collections will be flat or down due to the weak economy. Doyle will have two choices, cut spending or raise taxes.
Problem is he’s beholding to WEAC and all public sector unions. He’ll have to freeze their wages and cut their benefits or raise taxes again.
At some point Doyle’s core beliefs will be obvious to everyone. He’ll tax everything that moves to pay off his markers to the public unions.
In the process he’ll accelerate the departure of companies and their workers, plus the retired people that pay taxes. Of course the low income people that consume taxes will stay.
We may already be at the point that raising taxes will not raise revenue due the departure of taxpayers.
Yeh I think in 2010 well over 50% of voters will have Doyle’s number. In fact it’s safe to say 100% of private sector taxpayers will have his number. Fortunatley they’ll have an alternative Scott Walker.
“That “doe-eyed conservative” you referred to just got 59% in Milwaukee County…the third time he’s had 56+% county-wide.”
And despite winning twice with 56+ percent of the vote for Milwaukee County Executive, Scott Walker still couldn’t manage to come out of the GOP primaries as the Republican nominee for Governor. The fact that he won this year’s election by a slightly larger margin than past elections speaks less about the job he’s done and more about the kind of campaign Lena Taylor ran.
Consider who is presently in the Governor’s mansion. Loophole Louie was his appointee and he gave $1M to Lena Taylor just to try heading-off Walker from a gubernatorial bid. Doofus Doyle was in North Carolina campaigning for Barackuda oBUMa. Doyle is lobbying for some cabinet post if oBUMa is elected while ignoring what is going on in Wisconsin. With friends like Doyle, who needs enemies.
Tell Doyle, if he gets an appointment, to get a toupee’ to cover his chrome dome. It shines so much that it conceals what a slimeball he really is.
germantown kid, thanks for adding so much insight to this discussion. As for your assertion that Doyle’s ignoring what’s going on in Wisconsin, you’re going to have to be a little more specific. What exactly did he ignore in the two days he spent in North Carolina?
Doyle remains the only Democrat I’ve *ever* refused to sign nomination papers for. Not to put too fine a point on it, I don’t think there’s all that much difference between him and the people he’s prosecuted.
That having been said, I’d take him over Walker anytime. I *loved* Walker’s solution to the wreck he made of the county park system: spin them off as a separate entity with a separate budget and taxation authority. That way he could escape responsibility for having to provide for upkeep of the parks in his budget.
I can admire the goal of holding the line on taxation, and can sympathize with holding off on buying/building new things. But there comes a time when we have to raise the money to maintain the good things we have, or we lose them. Walker doesn’t seem capable of understanding that point.
And to Smitty: If you don’t get what you want for your tax money, go ahead and find someplace you think you do and live there. That’s the beauty of freedom; you can make choices like that. Live where you like the budget and stop trying to take things away from me. When I left the military I could have been a permanent resident of any state in the union, since I’d spent my time on Federal soil, and I *chose* to come here. I’ve lived in places that “hold the line” on taxation and I haven’t been impressed by what I got for my money there. I was proud of what I saw in WI, and I’ve been disappointed by Walker’s systematic dismantling of it. If the Dems had run a *real* candidate against him, I think the election would have been a lot closer.
Arlen,
I wasn’t aware that I was trying to take anything away from you, I hadn’t realized that you have a claim on my income… but then youre a liberal.
But your advice is sound, if I don’t like paying Wisconsin’s exorbitant taxes I should leave—lots of other retirees and and college graduates are doing just that. The sun belt states continue to grow.
In my 60+ years I’ve visited and lived in a good number of states, both high tax and low tax. To be honest there’s not much difference in the services the high and low tax states offer. Parks are nice but they’re not worth being taxed out of my house.