Gov. Scott Walker: Wis. protests were about ‘big government union bosses’
Friday, October 28, 2011 at 8:42 am
- 9 Comments
Gov. Scott Walker; Source:Flickr, Gateway Technical College
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said his controversial budget repair bill protected the state’s middle class by avoiding layoffs and government expansion that average Wisconsinites would have ended up paying for.
Walker was at the Sheraton Hotel in West Des Moines, Ia., Wednesday for a fundraising dinner benefiting the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank located in Washington, D.C.
“Think about it. Historically, who pays for the expanse of government?” Walker asked. “The poor don’t pay for it. The wealthy, if they’re smart, have different ways of putting money other places and doing things like that. Who disproportionately pays for the expansive growth of government? It’s the middle class.”
Walker gained national attention earlier this year when he pushed a bill stripping most collective bargaining rights for public workers and requiring them to pay more for health insurance, among other things. Public safety officers — police and firefighters — were exempted from the new rules.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators came from around the country to protest the measure, which Walker thinks actually helped bring jobs to the state. He noted a business magazine that said the national focus on Wisconsin drew employers in.
“They said not only unlike other states around the country, but unlike Greece, Portugal and Spain and other places around the world, they saw a state that actually got its act together, that made long term decisions to put things in the right place,” Walker said.
The protests were ultimately not about protecting state workers, or even about state workers paying more for health care or pensions, Walker said.
“This was ultimately about big government union bosses who didn’t want us touching their money,” he said. “Not the peoples’ money, not the workers’ money. But the biggest thing they got upset about was the simple fact as part of these reforms I said no public employee in my state has to be forced to be part of a union.”
About 100 people gathered outside the hotel to express their displeasure with Walker, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and what they see as a nationwide attack on workers’ rights. Branstad said on Wednesday he and Walker aren’t anti-worker.
Walker made light of the demonstrators, saying “it’s not uncommon for me to have protestors from another sate. I had a lot of them earlier this spring.”
“I also got a kick out of the fact that just to make me feel at home not only did I get to share some of the stories but you brought some of my fan club outside the hotel on the way in here tonight,” he said.
Walker said he understands a lot of people are frustrated right now and their voices should be heard. But he also noted he didn’t let the thousands of protesters in Wisconsin shift his focus.
A recall effort is now underway for Walker and some state lawmakers in Wisconsin, But Walker said he isn’t “looking at it as a drag or discouragement.”
“I look at it as a unique opportunity to go again go to the voters, the people of the state of Wisconsin and tell them the story of how our reforms are working,” he said.
Walker is facing a recall effort.
9 Comments
Comment posted October 28, 2011 @ 9:08 am
Scott Walker’s hero, Ronald Reagan was a Union “Boss”.
Comment posted October 28, 2011 @ 9:38 am
What a bunch of hogwash. MN Independent, you’re better than this. What happened?
Comment posted October 28, 2011 @ 9:39 am
And Mr. Walker, why has Wisconsin’s unemployed numbers gone UP and not down? Where are the 10′s of thousands new jobs you promised?
Comment posted October 28, 2011 @ 10:10 am
Thank GOD. I am so tired of being forced to defend the Bible’s and GOD condemnation of homosexuality. Those of us who were either not victims of incest and sexual abuse or got treatment for those crimes against humanity; don’t want to suffer the curse of GOD for associating with someone that the Holy Bible calls an abomination before THE LORD. Only people who are going to hell, believe that there is no GOD, you can do what you want and no one cares, or that there is no right or wrong. You are fooling yourselves, just like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. GOD is a loving GOD. But HE will not bless what HE says is wrong.
If you choose to act like people going to hell, don’t blame those of us who are not going to hell, for not wanting to hang around you.
Before GOD made it rain, the people harassing Noah, knew that they were ‘just born that way’ and that ‘they had no responsibility to not act the way the devil told them to.’; they all died, except the one family that believed GOD.
Do what you want, just don’t try to get in my boat, when the rain starts. lol
Comment posted October 28, 2011 @ 10:16 am
Scott Walker is THE best thing to happen to Wisconsin since Curly Lambeau decided to coach a football team. Best Gov the state has ever had. Heres hoping he runs for President someday. All other states should beg for a leader like him.
Comment posted October 28, 2011 @ 4:32 pm
Napoleon Walker is parroting the latest Karl Rove talking points for the LYING MUDOGS to spread around. Every time he opens his mouth he lies and bows to the KOCH BROTHErs. Who are in the waiting for WI’s power plants. He is covering up the rot and he is about to be exposed. The teachers, firefighters and police officers are fighting for citizens and the safety of the community. Has nothing to do with unions. REAGAN did a real good job of demonizing the poor and the unions. Hey that sugar plant had a fire, because the workers were ill trained and the employer cares nothing about work place safety. It was non union mine that 29 miners died in and unfortunately no one is going to jail for INDUSTRIAL HOMICIDE. There is all kinds of GOP rhetoric about education, but you fools, they don’t want public education. Napoleon Walker is about to sell out the people of WI unless he remains under threat of recall and he will have to spend all that KOCH money to keep his seat. He cannot give the power plants away or dispose of other WI public assets without public scrutiny, since the legislature gave that power away to a college drop out.
Comment posted October 28, 2011 @ 6:25 pm
I attended protests, not for my pay and benefits but because I personally had students who were about to lose healthcare and potential services they needed in school. We could educate them now AND get the lead out of the tissue in their brains through medication; or we could pay for them for life through our taxes. I would much rather give them the chance to become taxpayers themselves. I’m just one of those union thugs I guess.
Comment posted October 29, 2011 @ 10:39 pm
Walker and his corporate cronies ginned up a budget crisis and balanced it on the backs of working people, middle-class working people like me, while giving tax breaks to the wealthy. He’s an amoral liar. Quite sad for the son of a Baptist preacher.
Comment posted October 30, 2011 @ 12:31 pm
“The wealthy, if they’re smart, have different ways of putting money other places and doing things like that.”
Those tax-dodgers are the problem. Yet they are the ones that Walker caters to.
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