Gubernatorial Debate Question: Will Scott Walker Fly There?

MADISON, Wis. — Facing a commute of over 12 miles from the governor’s mansion on the East side of Madison to a television studio on the West side of Madison for a debate this evening, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross asked the question on everyone’s mind about Scott Walker, will he fly?

“The beltline in Madison can be tough commute and Scott Walker has shown time and again he has no shame when it comes to taking to the air at taxpayer expense,” said Ross. “So the question is: will he fly to tonight’s debate?”

Research from One Wisconsin Now exposed how Gov, Scott Walker has serially misused and abused state taxpayers dollars with his use of the state plane.

After his disastrous run for president, Gov. Scott Walker admitted in an interview that he needed to rehabilitate his political image in Wisconsin to have a chance at continuing his 25-year political career. One Wisconsin Now’s investigation of state records reveals Walker’s misuse and abuse of taxpayer resources, deploying the state airplane for over 950 flights from September 21, 2015 through August 2018 at a cost in excess of $900,000, as he mounted his over two year long campaign to try to repair and rehabilitate his political image.

A sample of the outrageously short flights Walker charged taxpayers for as part of his three-year political rehabilitation campaign include:

• Appleton to Green Bay – 24.2 miles
• Kenosha to Milwaukee – 24.2 miles
• Green Bay to Shawano – 29.5 miles
• Madison to Watertown – 30.1 miles
• Waukesha to Lake Geneva – 30.5 miles
• Madison to Baraboo – 34.2 miles
• Oshkosh to Green Bay – 37.9 miles
• Madison to Janesville – 39.1 miles

Compared to other governors, Walker’s use of the state plane is even more outrageous, as he has taken to the air more than the governors of the ten most populous states in the nation.

Other flights Walker has made on the taxpayer dime range from illegal to ill advised, including illegally charging taxpayers $2,017 to fly the state plane to Rhinelander to film a campaign commercial and having an empty state plane flown from Madison to Milwaukee to pick him up after a haircut and then fly him north to a National Rifle Association conference at a cost of $2,586.

One Wisconsin Now’s full database of Scott Walker plane research is available here.