First 100 Days: Walker stands firm in his convictions

April 11th, 2011
By Kirsten Adshead Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON — One hundred days in and Gov. Scott Walker is steadfast.

In the face of protests, the rallies, the recalls, the lawsuits, Walker is resolute.

In a telephone interview Monday with WisconsinReporter.com, Walker was asked if, in hindsight, he’d do something different, given prior knowledge of how the collective bargaining changes he proposed would play out, Walker says “sure.”

“If we had known that the Senate Democrats would leave their jobs for three weeks, we might’ve formed a different strategy for that,” and asked Senate Republicans to push through the collective bargaining bill earlier than the GOP did, he said.

Asked to analyze his first 100 days, which conclude Tuesday, Walker went to familiar territory.

“(We’ve been) really aggressive, getting things done on all but one case a bipartisan basis, that in turn has sent a strong message that Wisconsin is open for business by improving the business climate and by doing things to control government spending and reform in government,” he said.

And asked if he’s willing to lose the governorship over the changes he’s proposed, notably reforming collective bargaining powers for most state public union employees, Walker reiterated what he’s said all along, “I don’t govern based on polls.”

It’s the kind of confident, bold attitude that Wisconsinites have come to expect from the governor since he took office Jan. 3.

Supporters love it. Critics loathe it.

Walker has plenty of both.

Brent Shelton, spokesman for FatWallet.com, which is relocating from Illinois to Beloit, said cited Wisconsin’s business practices — and Illinois’ decision to increase personal income taxes and corporate taxes — as reasons for the move.

“We’ve been welcomed with open arms and, moving forward, I’m sure Wisconsin will be at the top of our list for permanently (planting) our roots here,” he said, adding that “the lieutenant governor and governor have been very attentive to our needs and made sure our questions got answered so we could make a quick decision.”

Wisconsin PAC Executive Director Jeremy Ryan, who is coordinating efforts to try to recall Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen next year, cites his own reasons for wanting these three officials out.

He said they are guilty of: power grabs, refusing to compromise and undermining democracy.

“I would go as far as saying it’s the worst administration that Wisconsin has ever seen,” Ryan said.

Walker isn’t alone among newly elected governors taking office and immediately tackling serious, controversial issues, said Larry Sabato, a national politics expert from the University of Virginia.

Sabato also includes Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, and Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who like Walker have pushed for everything from budget cuts to government consolidation to regulatory repeals in their first few months in office — often aimed at righting their state’s economies and balancing budget deficits.

There is, however, a political price to be paid.

A March 23 Quinnipiac University poll showed Kasich with a 30 percent job approval rating in Ohio. The poll, conducted March 15-21, had live interviewers calling land lines and cell phones of 1,384 registered voters in Ohio. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

Half the people in Michigan disapprove of Snyder, according to a mid-March poll conducted by Democrat-leaning Public Policy Polling. The polling group talked with 502 registered voters in Michigan from March 18-20. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

In the latest Quinnipiac survey of registered voters in Florida, 48 percent disliked the job Scott is doing, more than twice the number who said the same in February. Surveyors telephoned 1,499 registered Florida voters from March 29-April 4 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

And Walker?

In an early March poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports, 57 percent of respondents disapproved of Walker. The company surveyed 800 likely voters in Wisconsin on March 2. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Sabato said the weak economy isn’t helping the public view of these governors, but they wouldn’t be tackling these big, controversial issues unless they believed action was necessary for the betterment of their states.

“The good news for all of them is they’ve got four years before the next election,” he said, noting, “I don’t believe a recall effort will succeed.”

Walker’s stance is a familiar one: “I don’t govern based on the next election. I govern based on the next generation.”