Desperate Scott Walker Running on What He Didn’t Do

MADISON, Wis. — Last week, after admitting he was losing the race for governor and before he even knew who he would face in the November election, Scott Walker personally launched a desperate, racist attack on Democrats. Today, Walker released his first general election ad based entirely on a poll conducted by his campaign the last week of July, which One Wisconsin Now obtained a copy of the questions asked. One Wisconsin Now provided the following fact check on the ad.

“Scott Walker admitted he’s losing so instead of running on his record, he’s running on what he didn’t do,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director. “His poll-driven pledges are as hollow as his 2014 election year ad promising to leave reproductive health care decisions ‘to a woman and her doctor.”

Walker Election Year Ad Promise: Provide $1,000 tax credit for five years to cover student loan interest ($5,000)

Fact: Walker opposes creating a state authority to help allow people to refinance student loan debt. [Wisconsin State Journal, 9/28/16]. In 2016, Wisconsin college graduates graduated with an average of $30,059 in student debt, Wisconsin ranked 17th in the nation for average college debt, and ranked 6th for percentage of students graduating with student loan debt at 67%. [TICAS Student Debt and the Class of 2016 report, p.8, September 2017]

Make apprenticeships available to students in 7th & 8th grade

Fact: Walker enacted the biggest cuts to education in Wisconsin’s history, including a 30 percent cut to state technical colleges. [Politifact, 2/19/12]

Walker Election Year Ad Promise: Provide working families tax credit to pay for daycare

Fact: Walker refused to support legislation introduced by Democrats to create a child care income tax credit. [2017 Senate Bill 37] SB 37 would have created a nonrefundable individual income tax credit for certain expenses for household and dependent care services, including costs for in-home care, daycare, and before-school and after-school care for school age children. A similar bill was introduced in 2015 as well. [2015 Senate Bill 311]

Walker Election Year Ad Promise: Provide low income seniors refundable tax credit to stay in their own homes

Fact: Walker’s 2011-13 budget repealed Homestead Tax Credit indexing. [LFB comparative summary of 2011-13 budget, Vol 2., p. 622-623] The Wisconsin Budget Project estimated this would raise property taxes for Wisconsin seniors by 28%. [Wisconsin Budget Project 2012 Issue Brief #2, p.1] The Wisconsin Budget Project more recently estimated 11,400 households would have tax increases averaging $614 under the 2017-19 budget due to significantly reducing funding for Homestead Tax Credit. [Wisconsin Budget Project Updated Summary of Proposed Budget for Taxes and Revenue, p. 2, 9/14/17]

“Fifty-year-old Scott Walker has been a career politician in office for 25 years who will say and do anything to win an election,” concluded Ross.

According to CFIS, Scott Walker has spent more than $1.5 million in polling as part of the $100 million his personal gubernatorial campaign has raised and spent since 2009.