Scott Walker on Partisanship
Dear Group,
On May 15, the day after the much advertised Washington Policy Center's and Greater Spokane, Inc.'s "Solutions Summit" the Spokesman ran a front page article describing former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's speech. Here are the first two paragraphs:
Former Wisconsin governor and presidential candidate Scott Walker urged conservatives to be prepared if Washington state ever flips from blue to red during a speech to hundreds of business leaders and elected officials Tuesday in Spokane.
Walker said the state could be at a tipping point, just like Wisconsin was when he first ran in 2010. In that election, Republicans won control of the state government and later passed a controversial bill that dramatically decreased public unions’ ability to collectively bargain.
The basic message: "We have an important Republican agenda. You business people are on the Republican team. If the team all works together in Washington State, if you're prepared when your state flips (i.e. to a trifecta, a Republican majority in both houses of the State House and a Republican governor) the way Wisconsin flipped in 2010, you can ram our agenda down the throat of the citizenry before they know what's happening. What he probably did not say was that in the 2010 Wisconsin governor's race Walker purposely did not run on attacking collective bargaining for public employee...but that was his first priority once in office.
The Spokesman article goes on:
He [Walker] said if he would have waited until longer into his term to pass conservative policies, he likely wouldn’t have won his recall election.
Message: Strike hard. Shock and awe. If people have time to figure out what you're up to you might be removed from office. That is a revealing. The attendees at the Solutions Summit must have been clear they weren't listening to a statesman, a man interested in the good of the country, but rather a political ideologue bent on winning, defined as passing as much partisan legislation as possible.
More (the bold is mine):
Walker said Wisconsin Republicans had prepared policies and talking points years before winning control, a feat Washington Republicans could achieve as well.
That is, with enough conservative opinion pieces and talking points from the non-profit dark money Washington Policy Center to rally around you can achieve here in Washington what I, Scott Walker, achieved in Wisconsin before the voters wised up and elected, in 2018, a governor with actual knowledge and experience in education, Tony Evers.
What Mr. Walker perhaps did not say was this: When you finally are voted out of office don't leave in a statesmanlike manner. During the lame duck session between your loss and the seating of the new governor make every effort you can to hamstring the incoming Democratic governor. You must plan for these things, too. After all, to Walker government isn't cooperative, it's a winner takes all enterprise. There are many articles on what the lame duck Wisconsin legislature and Mr. Walker rammed through in the last days of his governorship. Read here if you have access to the New York Times.
Then what does one expect from a college dropout with little life experience outside of politics, a dropout steeped in Baptist and Republican ideology from his early youth?
Various local Republicans came to hear Walker speak at the Washington Policy Center's Solutions Summit, came to hear his counsel on how they should function, plot, and plan in their elective offices (the bold is mine):
Walker was one of many prominent attendees at conservative think tank Washington Policy Center’s Solutions Summit event at the Historic Davenport Hotel. Secretary of State Kim Wyman, state Treasurer Duane Davidson, Spokane Mayor David Condon, Sen. Sharon Brown, R-Kennewick, Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, and several Spokane Valley council members attended the event.
Nadine Woodward, mayoral candidate for the City of Spokane, was also there, in case you had any doubt as to her partisan leanings.
I doubt Walker's speech offered anything new for most of those who listened. I wonder how many of the listeners had any acquaintance with the rest of the Walker story.
Keep to the high ground,
Jerry
P.S. Scott Walker's speaker's fee is reported to be between $15,000 and $25,000. Once he quit licking his wounds from last fall's election defeat he joined up with the Worldwide Speakers Group, purveyors of other guiding lights like former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina. Not bad for a guy whose salary as governor of Wisconsin was $146,597.88. Let's see, six to ten half hour speeches as a Republican cheerleader to make your prior annual salary?