When Gov. Scott Walker played host at a livestock auction held during the last week of the Wisconsin State Fair, what might have seemed to him like a rare opportunity to rise above the political fray was no doubt dimmed a bit by the shadow cast by a rather large reminder of his past transportation policies. The literal shadow that fell on fairgoers that day came from a 20-foot-by-120-foot banner being towed behind an airplane high above, exhorting Walker to “FIX OUR ROADS GOVERNOR” and directing onlookers to the website scottholes.com.
Anyone visiting the site is first greeted by a mocking cartoon showing a depiction of Walker holding up a sign saying, “Pardon Our Scott-Holes,” while a driver tells him that “Car repair is not economic development.” They can also browse through a collection of submitted photos showing crumbling roads throughout the state, and they can click on links to editorials and the latest Marquette University Law School poll, in which 59% of the respondents rated the condition of roads near where they live as either fair or poor.
But the Scott-Holes campaign goes beyond a solo appearance by a banner-towing aircraft over State Fair. The same banner that was flown then has also shown up at Summerfest in Milwaukee, the Hodag Country Festival in Rhinelander, the Rock Music Festival in Chippewa County and Country Jam USA in Eau Claire and is scheduled to show up at future Badgers and Packers games. Billboards with the same derisive cartoon seen on the website stand along highways in various parts of the state, including one on I-43 on Milwaukee’s North Side. Safe Transportation Over Politics (STOP)—the group behind the Scott-Holes campaign—has spent at least $350,000 to run ads on seven radio stations through September.
Many people have found themselves at odds in recent years with Walker over his transportation policies. Even some of his fellow Republicans have questioned his heavy reliance on borrowing to pay for construction and repair projects. But, so far at least, most of his critics have been keeping their distance from the Scott-Holes campaign.
Disenchanted with Walker
Not so Terry McGowan, president and business manager of Local 139 of the International Union of Operating Engineers. Local 139 boasts nearly 10,000 members, making it by far the largest construction union in Wisconsin. Most of those workers are employed in building and maintaining the state’s highways and bridges.
|
|
Once a Walker supporter, McGowan has turned in recent years into one of the governor’s most vocal critics. The break wasn’t initially about the governor’s transportation policies, though. McGowan first felt betrayed by Walker because of the latter’s support of the state’s right-to-work law, which prevents workers from having to pay mandatory union fees. Another blow came with the state’s elimination of minimum, “prevailing” wages on public construction projects. But, as late as 2014, McGowan had been out campaigning for Walker’s reelection, even as many of his union brethren were still stewing over the governor’s push several years before for the Act 10 law that eliminated most public workers’ collective-bargaining rights.
McGowan said he would have never stood up for Walker had the governor not promised him he would refuse to sign right-to-work legislation or support the elimination of the state’s prevailing wages. Plus, McGowan was optimistic that Walker would eventually support a “long-term funding solution” for the state’s transportation system—a phrase that’s usually code for finding a way to bring in more money. Disenchantment came when Walker was on the presidential campaign trail in 2015. Under pressure to conform with national conservative priorities, Walker signed a right-to-work bill into law that same year. Enraged, McGowan publicly accused the governor of having lied to his face.
Now, though, with right to work a fait accompli and prevailing wages eliminated, McGowan said he’s no longer interested in dredging up the past. More than anything, he wants to use the Scott-Holes campaign to ensure that Wisconsin’s transportation system remains a topic of debate. “I just don’t hear the governor talking about it,” McGowan said. “He brags about how grateful we should be that we have such good employment. But he’s not talking about transportation.”
As far as the candidates in the governor’s race go, McGowan and Local 139 were among the biggest backers early on of Mahlon Mitchell, a Democrat who’s head of the state firefighters union and a long-time friend of McGowan’s. With Mitchell’s defeat in the primary election on Tuesday, Aug. 14, Local 139’s support has switched to Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers.
McGowan insists the union’s political activities are completely separate from the Scott-Holes campaign. Even if Walker wins reelection, McGowan said, the Scott-Holes campaign will have helped ensure the state’s transportation system was not neglected in any Evers-Walker debates. “No matter what happens,” he said, “I’m going to continue to remind people what shape our roads are in.”
The GOP’s Crooked Accounting
Representatives of the governor did not respond to a request for comment. In the past, they have argued that Walker has spent $3 billion more on roads than did his immediate predecessor in office, Democratic former Gov. Jim Doyle. But the state’s own nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau has pointed out there are at least a couple of faults with that figure. For one, it doesn’t consider the effects of inflation. Second, it relies on a strange sort of double accounting; money that was borrowed for roads is being counted twice: once when it’s borrowed and a second time when it’s paid off. If the figure is adjusted to eliminate those two caveats, then Walker has actually spent $1.3 billion less than Doyle, the fiscal bureau has found.
Yes, McGowan conceded, Walker can claim that much of Southeast Wisconsin’s highway system has been rebuilt under his watch. But some of that work has come at the expense of other parts of the state, McGowan argued. Walker’s push to speed up the expansion of I-94 between Milwaukee and the Illinois border in order to accommodate the Foxconn factory has suctioned in tens of millions of dollars that were originally meant to be spent elsewhere. “I represent the entire state, and I go to meetings up north, and my members aren’t happy as to what’s happening to their infrastructure,” McGowan said. “They pay as much in taxes as people living in Southeast Wisconsin. The only difference is they aren’t getting anything.”
Most conservatives have stood beside Walker in his refusal to consider raising the state’s gas tax or vehicle-registration fees, but some have still expressed misgivings about the effects of his transportation policies. Republicans representing Milwaukee’s western suburbs were particularly dismayed when the state’s Department of Transportation asked the federal government to rescind its approval of plans to widen I-94 between the Marquette and Zoo interchanges.
But, are their concerns also being given voice through the Scott-Holes campaign? Probably not. Steve Baas, senior vice president of governmental affairs Metropolitan Milwaukee Associated of Commerce, is among the reliable supporters of Walker who nonetheless were not happy when the federal approval of the I-94 expansion was rescinded. As for the Scott-Holes campaign, though, he thinks it’s just as likely to backfire as it is to help its supporters achieve their goals. “Name-calling and that sort of stuff doesn’t usually bring people together toward a solution,” Baas said. “It usually causes people to dig in more firmly.”
McGowan said he hopes the governor is able to have a bit of a sense of humor about the Scott-Holes campaign. He noted that Walker himself had used a similar ploy when he ridiculed Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett by deeming a detour set up in the Zoo Interchange the “Barrett bypass.” But, even if the governor isn’t laughing, McGowan believes the Scott-Holes campaign’s message is one that ought to be heard. “The very first promise [Walker] made to me was that we would have a sustainable transportation program,” McGowan said. “He said, ‘fully funded and sustainable.’ And it’s a mess. To me, that’s the biggest broken promise—and not only to me and my industry. It’s a broken promise to the taxpayers of Wisconsin.”
