Walker promises to lower UW tuition, touts tax cuts
In his seventhstate of the state speech, Gov. Scott Walker previewed the pitch he could take into his potential re-election bid next year, promising to cut university tuition and touting tax and unemployment rates that are lower now than when he took office in 2011.
The GOP governor promised to lower the cost of enrollment in the University of Wisconsin System after four years of an in-state tuition freeze, but otherwise focused on reviewing the accomplishments of his last six years rather than making news.
Walker, who won election in 2010 and 2014, has said he'll determine whether to run for a third term after he and lawmakers approve the 2017-'19 state budget this summer. Echoing language from President-elect Donald Trump, Walker said he was "working and winning" for the state and left the strong impression that he wants to run again next year.
"Are the people of Wisconsin — you, me, us — better off than we were six years ago? The answer is a resounding yes," Walker said in in the speech.
Walker delivered the speech at 3 p.m. in the Assembly chamber rather than in the evening out of respect to President Barack Obama, who is giving his farewell address in Chicago Tuesday evening. Walker's speech can be watched online on Wisconsin Eye or on Milwaukee Public Television.
Wisconsin governors aren't limited in the number of terms they can seek — Tommy Thompson won four gubernatorial elections. But with Walker's approval rating currently in negative territory, a potential re-election bid could well prove his most challenging race for governor.
Democratic Rep. Gordon Hintz of Oshkosh previewed his party's argument against a third term for Walker Tuesday, saying the governor will be making a "state of denial" speech. Hintz pointed to problems that remain in state government, from a nearly $1 billion shortfall in the road fund over the next two years to a federal probe of alleged abuses at the state's prison for juveniles.
In one sign that Walker wants to run for re-election, he held 77 invite-only listening sessions with citizens around Wisconsin in 2016, seeking to rebuild his home-state profile after a failed presidential bid in 2015. The governor hit every county in the state, though he did not reach his goal of holding 100 sessions.
In speech excerpts, Walker aggressively touted his record on taxes and jobs saying since 2011:
- State taxes have been cut by a cumulative total of $4.7 billion, according to the Walker administration. By the spring of 2018, the income tax cuts would save $1,159 for a family with two workers, $85,859 a year in income and two children, according to the state Department of Revenue.
- Property taxes are at their lowest levels in Wisconsin since World War II when measured as a percentage of our personal income in this state, the governor said, citing figures from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. The Alliance found that property taxes now account for about 3.6% of the income made by state citizens, the lowest percentage since 1945.
- More than 50,000 businesses have been created, state Department of Financial Institutions show. PolitiFact Wisconsin has found that these business figures include operations that don't employ anyone, such as volunteer-run nonprofits, youth sports leagues and limited liability companies set up solely to own property.
- The state has invested $18 billion in transportation since Walker took office — about $2 billion more than former Gov. Jim Doyle's administration did during his first six years in office from 2003 to 2009. That figures doesn’t account for nearly a decade of inflation, however.
- Wisconsin's unemployment rate, which was at 4.1% for November, is below the national level of 4.6% for the same month. The jobless rate has fallen by more than half over Walker's time in office to its lowest level in more than 15 years, according to federal labor statistics.
Democrats were already pushing back Tuesday on the jobs numbers, saying that the state has failed to keep up with the rest of the country in recovering from the last recession. Wisconsin’s economy ranks 8th in job creation out of 10 Midwest states over the last five years, Hintz said in his statement.
The governor said that more than 21,000 able-bodied Food Share participants were working in the state after having gone through mandatory job training to receive their food stamp benefits.
The training program, which is costing $18 million in state tax dollars over the two years, has also led to 58,000 state residents losing their federally funded benefits because they failed to meet the training and employment requirement after three months of receiving food stamps.
"We went from a focus on “jobs, jobs, jobs” to talking about 'workforce, workforce, workforce.' This is my top priority for 2017 – and beyond," Walker said in his prepared remarks.
Walker has more political allies now than ever before, with Trump about to enter the White House, a GOP Congress and more Republicans in the Legislature than at any time since at least 1971. The governor will draw on them all as he seeks to drug test food stamp recipients, expand taxpayer-funded private voucher schools and charge higher premiums for risk takers such as smokers in state BadgerCare health coverage for the needy.
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