Open letter to Fox Business regarding Walker’s recent appearance on the Willis Report
Dear Fox Business,
There are a couple things One Wisconsin Now wanted to make sure you were aware of regarding Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s fiscal record of management, given his recent appearance on the Willis Report:
1.) In 2008 Scott Walker decided to give himself a $50,000 pay raise, a cost of $200,000 over his next four-year term.
2.) During his tenure as Milwaukee County Executive he proposed increasing spending by 35%, eclipsing proposed spending by both Governor Doyle and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
3.) Despite his claims to hold down taxes, property tax bills have climbed 20%. County fees also jumped an astounding 125%. [2003-2010 Adopted Milwaukee County Budgets]
4.) While in the state legislature, there wasn’t a state budget proposed by the Republican governors (Tommy Thompson and Scott McCallum) that he didn’t like, voting for five straight state budgets, which increased state spending from $26.6 billion to nearly $49 billion, an increase of $22 billion – or 84 percent.
5.) He was elected to Milwaukee County executive to clean up a pension scandal, yet four years into his tenure the scandals continued, costing county taxpayers an additional $50 million.
6.) His “brown bag” campaign is a recycled gimmick from Senator Voinovich’s 1998 U.S. Senate campaign — even the fundraising letter sent by Walker’s wife was a copy of one sent by Senator Voinovich’s wife.
7.) He dismantled several county economic development programs before being for economic development, and proposed privatizing the county airport, which actually generates revenue and eases property taxes for residents. [2003-2010 Proposed Executive Milwaukee County Budgets]
8.) Walker has been on the public payroll his entire adult career: salary, pension and health care all picked up by Wisconsin taxpayers for the past 17 years, since he was 26 years old.
9.) His personal investment into his college education left him without a college diploma for reasons he still refuses to explain. [Associated Press, 03/27/2002]
Since you didn’t have enough time to research the repeated misstatements and distortions regularly emerging from Walker’s spin machine, we wanted to make sure you had the information to keep your numerous viewers informed on these issues.
Because you champion yourself as “fair and balanced,” you will no doubt wish to provide proper time to an examination of the facts behind County Executive Walker’s fallacies.
Sincerely,
Your Friends at One Wisconsin Now