By
R. Brownell
With GOP contenders coming out one by one to announce their official candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, one dark horse candidate has grown in popularity amongst conservative caucus groups around the nation, and could possibly be the candidate that could revive interest amongst GOP voters throughout the country to get out and vote, if he does decide to run…
That man is Gov. Scott Walker
Click next to learn what you need to know about Scott Walker….
5. Walker gave $370,000 of his salary back to his community during his time as county executive
As a response to complaints that Milwaukee County officials were spending excessive amounts of tax payer money on lavish bonuses and pensions, then candidate Scott Walker, who was running for Milwaukee County Executive in 2002, pledged to voters he would cut the Executive position’s salary by $60,000 during his administration.
Not only did he keep his promise to cut unnecessary spending, but between 2004-2008, Walker returned a whopping $370,000 dollars of his own salary as county executive back to the local government where the money went to fund further public works and programs throughout Milwaukee.
4. The Budget Repair Bill controversy
At the beginning of his time as governor in 2011, Walker announced “…his budget-repair bill, which would increase the costs of benefits to public employees and curb their collective bargaining rights, to combat a $137 million shortfall through the end of June, and a $3.6 billion gap by 2013″ (CNN Library).
Thousands of workers, feeling their collective bargaining rights were being unfairly attacked, were organized by various unions to go and protest in the capital of Wisconsin, occupying the capital building for several weeks. After the protests began to dissipate, the bill was later passed in the Republican controlled state senate in late March of that year.
3. The 2012 recall election
With the Budget Repair Bill in action, the Democratic Party and various major workers unions worked together to remove Walker as governor, first by obtaining more than 1 million signatures in order to petition for a recall of his position. During this turbulent period that resulted when the petition was accepted and the recall was enacted, Walker defeated his Democratic opponent, former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, by a 53-46 margin. This was the first time in US history that a governor has survived a recall election.
2. The influence of Koch Industries money
During the controversial 2012 recall election, a large sum of donations made to the Walker campaign came from the political power backers Charles and David Koch, of Koch Industries. Reports would later expose that Scott Walker received $8 million in campaign donations from the Kochs alone. According to non-partisan site PolitiFact:
A Buffalo, N.Y., blogger posing as David Koch made a prank call to Walker. Walker discussed ways Koch could help Republican legislators, presumably with TV and radio ads. He also said he considered — but rejected — planting troublemakers amid demonstrators who had been protesting his policies at the Wisconsin Capitol for a week.
This secretive collaboration between Walker and the Koch brothers has since haunted Walker’s reputation, creating the question as to whether or not money is controlling Walker’s decisions in office.
1. PolitiFact says he’s a rampant liar…
According to PolitiFact, more than half the statements Walker has made since he first became governor of Wisconsin are proven lies. Of one hundred-thirty five statements PolitiFact investigated, only sixteen were deemed truthful.