# Can Scott Walker be re-elected Governor of Wisconsin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 20, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184 "2014-06-20T00:36:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/101 "2014-07-29T16:05:24Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I won’t say Snyder’s a magnificent governor. Neither is Walker. But the policies enacted by the legislatures and enforced by the GOP governors are pro-growth, and naturally, growth results. Whereas the policies in Illinois are anti-growth, so it shouldn’t be surprising that Illinois’ neighbors are the only beneficiaries of their policies. > > When the government exists primarily to promote the interests of the government itself, nothing good can come of that. Minnesota is Democratic-run, but Minnesota has a bit of a “maverick” history. They elected Jesse Ventura after all!\*\* Illinois represents Democratic machine politics at its worst, and Wisconsin wasn’t much better \*\*before Walker’s reforms. > > It looks like Illinois will be electing a Republican governor. It would be a shame for other states in that region to go backwards when Illinois is finally waking up. Please find us a citation. Machine politics akin to Illinois in Wisconsin. Bwahahaha. NFW. Walker “pro-growth”? Maybe, if the growth is in industries owned by his friends. If he’s so damned pro growth why did he block high speed rail? That, alone, probably slowed economic growth in Wisconsin by some significantly measurable amount. He’s “pro-growth” and Minnesota isn’t, yet Minnesota is doing better. Hmmm . . . . North Dakota doing better. Sure - oil boom. So is Alaska. Take away oil, and those two states are laggards. Same for Texas. And once the environment of North Dakota has been totally destroyed by shale oil “recovery”, they won’t have enough people left to have a state. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/102 "2014-07-29T16:24:47Z")
Remembering a bumper sticker from Alaska about the time of the great oil boom/pipeline: “Happiness is an Oklahoman heading home with a Texan under each arm.” ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/103 "2014-07-29T17:00:01Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > Please find us a citation. Machine politics akin to Illinois in Wisconsin. Bwahahaha. NFW. Maybe not to the same extent, but enough, given the power of the public employee unions in Wisconsin. The government does not exist for the benefit of itself, but public employee unions seem to think it does. And when they wield that much power, it’s machine politics. > [@](#): > > Walker “pro-growth”? Maybe, if the growth is in industries owned by his friends. If he’s so damned pro growth why did he block high speed rail? That, alone, probably slowed economic growth in Wisconsin by some significantly measurable amount. He’s “pro-growth” and Minnesota isn’t, yet Minnesota is doing better. Hmmm . . . . High speed rail isn’t high speed rail. That’s why it’s nonsense. It’s slightly faster rail. There is already more than adequate rail in that region, far better rail than what Florida has, and we’re adding jobs at a very brisk clip. 16 years of unbroken GOP leadership can do that. And we’re guaranteed 20, since the Democrats are running a former GOP governor to defeat the current GOP governor.🙂 Walker nixed high speed rail because it was a boondoggle that would have brought no benefits beyond the rail Wisconsin already has. > [@](#): > > North Dakota doing better. Sure - oil boom. So is Alaska. Take away oil, and those two states are laggards. Same for Texas. And once the environment of North Dakota has been totally destroyed by shale oil “recovery”, they won’t have enough people left to have a state. North Dakota has always done better than the nation as a whole in terms of jobs. Now they are just doing a hell of a lot better. But sure, I’ll admit that Walker and Snyder alike have underperformed Pence in Illinois(and Daniels before him), and John Kasich. And Mark Dayton in Minnesota. They’ve done a heck of a lot better than Kentucky and Illinois. I think both deserve reelection for their economic management. However, if you want to boot them out for their ethics, that’s understandable too. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/104 "2014-07-29T17:39:09Z")
No, I think Walker in particular needs to be booted out on the basis of teh stupid. Imagine that you cannot pay your power bill. So you come up with a cool [idea to sell your HVAC system](http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/column/paul-l-brown-and-bruce-b-braun-sale-of-state/article_ae16ae70-989a-11e2-bc5f-0019bb2963f4.html) to someone who will maintain it for you and charge you a comfort fee. Which will end up costing you more than you were paying before, but hey, at least you got your power bill paid. This month, anyway. And “no bid contracts”? That works well. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/105 "2014-07-29T17:58:12Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > North Dakota has always done better than the nation as a whole in terms of jobs. Now they are just doing a hell of a lot better. With no dependence on manufacturing cycles of demand it’s not hard to avoid sharp downturns. Now, like Alaska, they happen to sit on oil deposits and can profit by the accident of their fortunate geography. Of course, they’ll likely screw up their water table but that’s something for liberals to worry about. I think you confuse low taxes with pro growth. Kansas recently gutted their tax rates and are heading toward bankruptcy. Where are the jobs that Kansas was supposed to attract? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/106 "2014-07-29T22:59:28Z")
I don’t think it’s just low taxes. If a state has a lot of dysfunction, just cutting taxes doesn’t solve anything. But if you have a mix of low taxes, low spending, competent government, friendly business climate, then you’re probably going to be doing pretty well. You can even have high taxes and high spending if the government is competent and the regulatory climate isn’t stupid. But when you have high taxes, high spending, a government that is for the public employee unions and by the public employee unions, and a regulatory climate that sharply limits the ability of businesses to thrive, or even prevents individuals from getting jobs in the fields they have talent in(too much occupational licensing), then it’s a recipe for stagnation. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/107 "2014-07-30T06:02:12Z")
“For and by public employee unions”? Do you have some substantive empirical data on that subject (that is not marinated, steeped and stewed in bias)? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/108 "2014-07-30T06:32:26Z")
What are you looking for? Public employee unions shooting down education reforms? Public employee unions demanding that unsustainable pensions be kept at their current levels even if it squeezes out spending that serves the public good? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/109 "2014-07-30T06:35:49Z")
So, nothing. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/110 "2014-07-30T11:44:25Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > What are you looking for? Public employee unions shooting down education reforms? Public employee unions demanding that unsustainable pensions be kept at their current levels even if it squeezes out spending that serves the public good? [Wh needs unions?](http://www.democraticunderground.com/11175293) Everybody. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/111 "2014-07-30T23:11:29Z")
Come forth, **adaher** , put up or drop it. This “public employees unions” nonsense is sounding more and more like talking-point nonsense running on fumes. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/112 "2014-07-31T14:48:01Z")
> **[Wis. court upholds 2011 union law](https://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/wisconsin-unions-supreme-court-109581?hp=r7)** > > The 2011 law effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld the 2011 law that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers, sparked massive protests and led to Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s recall election and rise to national prominence. Thursday’s 5-2 ruling is a victory for Walker, who is considering a 2016 run for president and is seeking re-election this year. It also marks the end of the three-year legal fight over the union rights law, which prohibits public worker unions for collectively bargaining for anything beyond base wage increases based on inflation. A federal appeals court twice upheld the law as constitutional. … The union law has been challenged on several fronts since it was introduced, but it’s withstood them all. The state Supreme Court decided to take the case it ruled on Thursday after a Dane County judge sided with the unions and ruled in September 2012 that major portions of the law were unconstitutional. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/113 "2014-07-31T15:25:34Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > “For and by public employee unions”? Do you have some substantive empirical data on that subject (that is not marinated, steeped and stewed in bias)? Prior to Act 10, the WI teachers’ union usually had the ability to either specify the health insurer (WEA Trust) or to require that the insurer match the provisions of WEA Trust. Although WEA Trust said their rates and benefits were competitive, within a year after the act was signed and school districts were allowed to switch carriers [, WEA Trust said about a third of its business went away, resulting in a loss of 8 percent of its revenue, or nearly $70 million.](http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/article/2012/may/21/behind-rhetoric-wea-trust-and-school-health-care-c/) Some of that loss came from renegotiating contracts and some came from outright losing the business to competitors. It seemed to many people, who weren’t teachers or administrators, that the ability to specify your health insurer, and to specify that your health insurer be part of your union organization, who could in turn move significant amounts of money back into the union ($25 Million in “contract services” in 2006) or lobby on behalf of it, was a bit too cozy. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/114 "2014-07-31T16:49:11Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > [http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/wisconsin-unions-supreme-court-109581.html?hp=r7](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/wisconsin-unions-supreme-court-109581.html?hp=r7) > > The Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld the 2011 law that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers, sparked massive protests and led to Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s recall election and rise to national prominence. > > Thursday’s 5-2 ruling is a victory for Walker… Walker? What? He’s not indicted yet? **BrainGlutton** , how is this possible? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/115 "2014-07-31T17:02:55Z")
A man in a position of political power evades the vexations of the law? Can’t happen, must be innocent. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/116 "2014-07-31T23:42:26Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > [http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/wisconsin-unions-supreme-court-109581.html?hp=r7](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/wisconsin-unions-supreme-court-109581.html?hp=r7) > > The Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld the 2011 law that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers, sparked massive protests and led to Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s recall election and rise to national prominence. > > Thursday’s 5-2 ruling is a victory for Walker, who is considering a 2016 run for president and is seeking re-election this year. It also marks the end of the three-year legal fight over the union rights law, which prohibits public worker unions for collectively bargaining for anything beyond base wage increases based on inflation. A federal appeals court twice upheld the law as constitutional. > … > The union law has been challenged on several fronts since it was introduced, but it’s withstood them all. > > The state Supreme Court decided to take the case it ruled on Thursday after a Dane County judge sided with the unions and ruled in September 2012 that major portions of the law were unconstitutional. FYI: The Wisconsin Supreme Court has been bought and paid for by the Koch Brothers over the eight or nine years. They will never make a decision against GOP-Koch interests. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/117 "2014-07-31T23:56:08Z")
Walker’s campaign hasn’t exactly been firing on all cylinders this cycle. [Story](http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_14068502970436&key=d2f6dc3d61fd72ef48d01980d6bfec29&libId=700e18af-dd99-4738-8ea0-6ea56b529fb1&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fbuckyville.yuku.com%2Ftopic%2F73995%2FWalkers-campaign-continues-to-be-inept%3Fpage%3D2&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jsonline.com%2Fwatchdog%2Fnoquarter%2Fburke-walker-each-claim-history-rewritten-on-abbott-land-b99320259z1-269126661.html&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fbuckyville.yuku.com%2Fforums%2F7%2FPolitical-Science&title=Walker%27s%20campaign%20continues%20to%20be%20inept%20in%20Talk%20about%20politics%20and%20loving%20your%20neighbor%20here.%20Forum&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jsonline.com%2Fwatchdog%2Fnoquarter%2Fburke-walker-each-claim-history-rewritten-on-abbott-land-b99320259z1-269126661.html) Walker has gone negative. I guess the pressure of being close in the polls prompted it. His ads have attacked Trek bikes. A company his opponent helped run and who his own development agency supported. The Trek line of attack is stunning coming from Walker and he has been forced to make incredibly weak transparently slimy comments about how he isn’t attacking Trek, just Burke. Another Walker ad attacked Burke for a land deal she made. Burke has claimed that although Abbott has not yet come to Wisconsin the deal paved the way for Uline to set up in Pleasant Prairie and since Uline’s owners are huge Walker backers they have claimed that Burke had nothing to do with it and that her moves didn’t matter. (Burke secured some land that a truck stop wanted to build on to prevent the truck stop from going in on land near what Abbott had already purchased). There is a letter from Uline’s VP that states: \*“If there was any sort of discussion about a 24 hour truck stop being across from our new corporate campus, Uline would have immediately removed this site from our list of potential sites,” Phil Hunt, executive vice president for the firm, wrote on May 28, 2013. “Just to be clear, if there was any chance of a 24-hour truck stop being built near the Pleasant Prairie site, Uline would have built its corporate campus someplace else,” Hunt wrote.\* So everyone agrees that Burke’s actions stopped the truck stop and a letter from Uline’s VP says they would not have built there if there was going to be a truck stop but Walker’s supporters claim that Burke had no impact on getting Uline to build where they did and Walker is running ads blasting Burke for wasting money that ultimately made Uline relocated to Pleasant Prairie. Note: The Uline CEO and his wife have given $346,400 to Republican candidates in Wisconsin, including $292,000 to Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch. Finally, Walker ran an ad attacking Burke for missing a School Board meeting that she attended by teleconference. This looks really stupid, and give the press the chance to point out that Burke has actually attended 96% of her School Board meetings. Lucky for Walker he has such a huge money advantage, else he might be serious trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/118 "2014-08-02T02:22:23Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > A man in a position of political power evades the vexations of the law? Can’t happen, must be innocent. So, since it’s obvious Walker won’t be indicted, based on either his innocence or his political power, why does BrainGlutton keep posting that he will be? Isn’t it obvious that he holds Wisconsin in the grip of iron, Koch-funded control, and liberals scatter before him, and he laughs as they are crushed and he hears the lamentations of their women? ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/119 "2014-08-02T02:49:29Z")
To be fair, the question was posed on June 19th- June 20th: can Walker stay out of prison? I haven’t seen too much repetition. And the answer of course is that most law abiding citizens reside elsewhere. But I say it’s better that 10 guilty men go free than to imprison one innocent man. I take a high minded approach to all of this. ETA: Early polling isn’t worth much, but at the moment Walker and Burke are tied: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/07/23/poll-scott-walker-in-dead-heat-against-democratic-challenger/](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/07/23/poll-scott-walker-in-dead-heat-against-democratic-challenger/) ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184/120 "2014-08-05T15:22:29Z")
It’s pretty amazing that with all of Walker’s campaign millions from around the country and “national reputation” that he’s in a close race and has felt it necessary to resort to a deluge of negative ads against a political light weight. > [@](#): > > [Things have been getting worse and worse for Gov. Scott Walker.](http://www.isthmus.com/isthmus/article.php?article=43280) > > The last two Marquette polls have showed him neck-and-neck with Democratic challenger Mary Burke, whose campaign strategy – essentially getting out of the way as her opponent is buried in bad news – looks more like it’s working every day. > > The latest from WKOW: Four more companies that actually laid off Wisconsinites and sent their jobs overseas got millions in taxpayer dollars from Walker’s flagship “job creation” agency. > [@](#): > > After he abolished the Commerce Department and set up the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, Walker’s administration set about using the agency as a [conduit (PDF)](http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/files/WisForWEDC.pdf) to funnel millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money to companies – 60% of whom gave money to help Walker get elected – on the pretext that it would help them create jobs. The agency failed to adequately track the results of that taxpayer giveaway. > > But one thing is certain: Wisconsin lags the nation and the region for job creation. And now it turns out that many of the companies that got money from WEDC laid off their employees here and moved jobs overseas. > [@](#): > > Maybe none of this would stick to Walker if Wisconsin were doing better economically. After all, pictures of his closest aides and associates being hauled away in orange jumpsuits didn’t do too much harm to the governor’s political career. > > But all that news about waste and cronyism, combined with the bad economic picture for most Wisconsinites, is wearing down Walker’s approval ratings. > > Hence Burke’s rise to dead-heat status with the vastly better-known and better-funded candidate. Maybe it will stay close and force the Kochs to pour millions into the Wisconsin election that they would have used to do their damage elsewhere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-scott-walker-be-re-elected-governor-of-wisconsin/691184.md?page=7)