Five ‘Legitimate Ideas’ Gov. Scott Walker Ought to Consider On His Next Trip Home to Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. — In a weekend talk show appearance, the increasingly desperate and embarrassing campaign of Scott Walker for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination hit a new low as he opined building a fence along the 5,525 mile long United States – Canada border is a “legitimate idea.” One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross today suggested five other ideas Walker ought to consider legitimate as part of his day job where he ostensibly still serves as governor of the state of Wisconsin.

“The guy who thinks impersonating Donald Trump is prudent strategy and building a 5,525 border wall is a ‘legitimate idea’ obviously needs some help coming up with the kinds of ideas that would move Wisconsin forward,” said Ross. “So on his next trip back to the state of Wisconsin here are five Scott Walker could start with.”

Five “legitimate ideas” for Scott Walker:

1. Endorse a common-sense plan to help student loan borrowers refinance their loans, just like you can with a mortgage. With nearly one million Wisconsin residents owing $18 billion and 43 million Americans owing $1.3 trillion, student loan debt is an economic crisis. Yet Scott Walker continues to refuse to support either state or federal legislation to allow borrowers to refinance their loans. According to estimates from the federal government, 515,000 people in the state of which he is still paid to be Governor would benefit immediately from lower interest rates.
2. Instead of a 5,525 mile long wall, how about a 75 mile high speed rail link between Milwaukee and Madison? Among his first acts in office Scott Walker killed a federally funded high speed rail line that could have connected Milwaukee and Madison and the state Wisconsin to other major economic hubs in the Midwest like Minneapolis and Chicago via rail. In addition to costing the state the thousands of jobs that would have been created, Wisconsin recently settled with the manufacturer of trains for the line and agreed to pay them a $10 million settlement.
3. Accept federal Medicaid money. Putting his national political aspirations before the health of the people of Wisconsin and the fiscal soundness of the budget, Scott Walker rejected an estimated $345 million in federal funding for health care in Wisconsin. As a result of his political pandering, the budget introduced by Walker included proposed cuts of $300 million to the University of Wisconsin System and $127 million to K-12 public schools.
4. Fund public education instead of cutting it. Scott Walker has signed into law the largest cuts to public education in state history – $1.2 billion from K-12 public schools and nearly $700 million from the University of Wisconsin and technical college systems. The result of this massive disinvestment in education is Wisconsin ranking dead last in the Midwest and lagging most of the nation on jobs under the Walker administration.
5. 1,235 days after creating a criminal legal defense fund reveal the donors who contributed over $450,000 to it. Scott Walker created a criminal legal defense fund in 2012 in connection with a secret “John Doe” investigation. Prosecutors obtained convictions of six close Walker aides and associates for various crimes ranging from illegal campaigning to laundering campaign contributions. Walker himself was under suspicion of misconduct in public office. To date, Walker has refused to reveal the identity or identities of the individuals that larded the fund with over $450,000.

Ross concluded, “Instead of embarrassing himself on national television by laughably proposing a wall to protect us from poutine and syrup from Canada, we hope Scott Walker will take seriously some of our suggestions for things he could do to really help the people of Wisconsin.”