Will Gov. Scott Walker Apply His Proposed Drug Testing for Public Housing to Himself and His Family?

MADISON, Wis. — As part of a politically motivated special session call, Gov. Scott Walker is proposing legislation requiring residents of public housing to submit to drug testing. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross today called on Walker, and any other adults living with him in the taxpayer funded governor’s mansion, to also submit to drug tests.

“Gov. Walker has been in what he calls the government hammock for a quarter of a century. He’s taken over $2 million in salary and he’s living in a mansion on the lake, courtesy of Wisconsin taxpayers,” said Ross. “If he thinks people who get public housing assistance need to be drug tested, Scott Walker and any other adults living with him in the mansion ought to be at the front of the line.”

Ross noted that Walker has sold his own home in Wauwatosa and lives full time in the the expansive abode, located in the exclusive enclave of Maple Bluff. There the Walker’s have the run of a sprawling 16,000 square foot neoclassical home on 3.7 acres on the shores of Lakes Mendota. The grounds feature 10 manicured gardens though which they can stroll and inside they can avail themselves of 34 rooms, including 7 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and a remodeled kitchen.

According to drafting records, as panic was setting in on the eve of an historic electoral loss in a state Senate race, the Walker administration was scrambling to have bills ready to go for a politically motivated special session. The provision requiring people in public housing to take a drug test was added in the afternoon the day before the bills were unveiled in Gov. Walker’s taxpayer funded fly around tour of the state.