By State Representative, Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
Next Tuesday, May 8th, is an important date for Democrats, Independents and all fair-minded people in Wisconsin. Voters will be afforded the opportunity to go to the tolls and cast their ballots in the primary recall election for governor.
There are currently four Democrats running in the recall primary. The Democratic challengers include: Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, Secretary of State Doug La Follette and state Senator Kathleen Vinehout. A fifth candidate, Gladys Huber, is a Republican running as a Democrat.
Scott Walker finds himself in hot water with many Wisconsin voters for a number of reasons. First and foremost, his stealth decision to strip most state workers of their collective bargaining rights clearly was the tipping point that launched the recall effort. But, there were other significant missteps along the way which may have been the catalyst for sealing Mr. Walker’s fate.
For instance, Scott Walker delivering on his ridiculous campaign pledge to derail the federal high-speed rail project slated for Wisconsin. In essence, Scott Walker thumbed his nose at a hefty $810 million in federal stimulus money that was quickly devoured by other states ( California , Florida and Illinois – to mention just a few.)
Moreover, Mr. Walker promised that he would create 250,000 new privatesector jobs in his current term. But, in reality, the governor has failed to produce. Wisconsin ranks dead last in new job creation and has actually lost almost 24,000 jobs since Scott Walker took office.
Now feeling the heat, the governor has tried to give the impression that he is willing to make some concessions. With great fanfare, he lifted the cap on Family Care, a program designed to keep seniors and people with disabilities in their homes rather than being institutionalized. But, the decision to remove the freeze on this program was the direct result of federal intervention and pressure from Washington.
Just this week, Mr. Walker unveiled his $100 million two-year “Transform Milwaukee” plan aimed at focusing state economic resources on one of the poorest sections of Milwaukee ’s inner city. Clearly, this is intended to curry favor with Milwaukee residents but, more importantly, it’s intended to hurt the political fortunes of Tom Barrett – one of Walker’s chief recall challengers.
But, will it be enough for Scott Walker to survive the recall challenge? Only time will tell.
Postcript: Walker has raised more than $25 million since January 2011 and has more than $4.8 million cash on hand.