Walker defends record in second State of State speech

In his second State of the State speech Gov. Scott Walker talked over the shouts of several hecklers who were removed from the Assembly chambers for their outbursts.

There were four arrests of people who yelled over the governor's voice, even as he seemed not to notice. Tight security was present during the speech the evening of Jan. 25.

Walker delivered the speech about a week after opponents of his policies turned in over a million petition signatures calling for his recall and the recall of Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch.

During his remarks, a crowd of 200 protesters chanted and beat a drum in the nearby rotunda. Walker said "we are turning things around. We are heading in the right direction."

The state had suffered through three years when 150,000 citizens lost their jobs, he said, while Wisconsin's government faced one of the largest budget deficits in the country.

The state's unemployment rate is down from last year when he gave his first State of the State speech, and the state's budget is balanced, he said.

"We balanced it - without raising taxes; without massive layoffs; and without budget tricks; all of which allowed us to put more than $1.2 billion of new state money into Medicaid programs like Badgercare and FamilyCare.

"We added thousands of new jobs and we balanced the state budget," Walker said.

Opponents of the governor noted he did not mention the six most recent months when there were job losses in the state. He also didn't mention the 250,000 jobs that he said he wanted to create in the state during his first term. That was his mantra last year in his first such speech.

Walker didn't recognize the hecklers or refer to the recall or the historic protests that gripped the capital in the first half of last year. Instead he focused on some new initiatives.

"To create more jobs, employers told us they need help cutting through the red tape of government. Tonight, I'm announcing new members to the Small Business Regulatory Review Board, which has the authority to review every rule in all of our state agencies.

"I will direct our agencies to work with them to remove antiquated and unnecessary regulations that pose a threat to creating new jobs."



'Brown Bag common sense'

Walker said his "brown bag common sense" approach is that "people create jobs, not the government." Removing red tape will help improve the climate for small business, he added.

During his speech he also pushed for state passage of a bill that would change mining regulations in the state, intended to open the state to an iron ore project in northwest Wisconsin.

"This project is about jobs but it's also about the history of the Badger state."

He criticized former Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, for raiding the Transportation fund and failing to pay a Minnesota reciprocity bill as a way to balance the previous administration's budget.

Walker said his reforms in public education led to the first decrease in the school property tax levy in six years.

Walker and the Republican-dominated Legislature passed laws limiting the collective bargaining of public unions and also took away the ability of local municipalities to raise property taxes. Total school tax levies in the state went down by more than $47 million, he said.

"That means real money in the hands of real people."

The second half of the 37-minute speech was devoted to education and defense of his move to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public workers.

He did not mention the University of Wisconsin or the Economic Development Corporation - the former Department of Commerce that was changed in to a corporate entity in the last year.

In the Democrats' response to his speech, Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona) said it has been six straight months of job losses since Walker's policies have been implemented. "That hardly makes the case that Wisconsin is moving forward."



Barca: State now

'polarized and broken'

Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) said that in the past year "the state of our state under Gov. Walker and Republican leaders has declined dramatically.

Our state, previously recognized nationally as a leader in public education, healthcare and good government, is now polarized and broken."

He echoed Miller. "Wisconsin has lost jobs in every month since Gov. Walker's economic plan took effect - while in every one of those months the nation as a whole has seen job growth," Barca said.

The state is "not working" for unemployed workers whose numbers are growing each months, Barca said. "It is not working for children in increasingly crowded classrooms. It is not working for low-wage family workers" whose taxes have been raised in the last year, he added.

"It is not working for students struggling to pay tuition. It is not working for families who are losing their health care."

During his speech Walker mentioned his bipartisan Commission on Waste, Fraud, and Abuse. The members turned in their final report earlier this month. "In it, they identified over $400 million in savings for the taxpayers.

"We've already implemented some of the recommendations from this report."

He also announced a new Waste, Fraud and Abuse Elimination Taskforce charged with the responsibility to follow through on the report. "Eliminating waste, fraud and abuse is a top priority of my administration."