What’s Gov. Walker WEDC Good For? Promoting His National Political Ambitions
Wants $10.9 Million For Advertising Campaign to Promote His Failed Policies, Overseen by Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
MADISON, Wis. — From appearances at Republican Party events in the Western Iowa media market to health care decisions designed to appease to Tea Party extremists instead of help Wisconsin families, Gov. Scott Walker’s top priorities appear to be his political ambitions. The recent announcement that he intends to spend nearly $11 million on a marketing campaign overseen by his scandal plagued Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) is more like a publicly funded, national advertising campaign for himself than a Wisconsin job creation strategy, according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross.
Ross commented, “To think that a corporation is going to come to Wisconsin because an executive saw an ad in the Wall Street Journal touting Gov. Walker and his far-right agenda is ridiculous. The only thing this money might accomplish is raising the profile of an ambitious politician pursuing national office.”
Gov. Walker’s most recent pandering to the Tea Party extremists that will likely decide the 2016 GOP presidential primary includes a fiscally reckless decision to reject federal aid to help cover more people with health insurance through the state’s BadgerCare program and flirtation with a 160% increase in the state sales tax to provide a massive tax cut for the wealthiest while shifting much of the responsibility for paying taxes onto middle class and working families.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin is ranked 42nd in the nation for job creation since the enactment of Gov. Walker’s 2011-13 budget which included the largest cuts to public education in state history and massive tax giveaways for the wealthy and corporations.
Ross concluded, “The interests of the people of Wisconsin are being sacrificed again and again to further Scott Walker’s political ambitions. While snappy slogans and a marketing campaign might help Gov. Walker cover up his abysmal record of failure for a national audience, it’s not a legitimate strategy to create jobs here.”