Illustration by: Melissa Lee Johnson
Long before Donald Trump demeaned the presidency of the United States by telling lie after lie, Gov. Scott Walker was working on his own Pinocchio nose, telling voters whatever he thought would allow him to keep his job. His fabrications are more subtle and cunning (and, therefore, less obvious to busy Wisconsinites), but they add up to a very serious pattern of deception from Walker, and he gets far worse during an election when he is desperate to keep his job.
The fact that anyone is debating whether Walker can call himself the “education governor” after he gutted public schools in Wisconsin points to a serious problem: Scott Walker’s pattern of mangling the truth is rarely called out.
Here is what his past practices show to be likely if Walker is reelected: Public schools will take further damage, roads and bridges will continue to crumble, people with pre-existing health conditions will lose insurance, and the economic ladder to success will be ripped away so people at the top can have even more. Then, Walker will again turn away from the problems he’s caused Wisconsin and jet around the country boasting of his “reforms” while he runs for president in 2020. But, he says he only wants to be governor? That is exactly what he said a month before being reelected in 2014.
Anyone who believes Walker is the education governor after the past seven years might as well also believe that he’s the pro-union governor, he wants more Democrats voting, and he has a bald spot because he once hit his head on a kitchen cabinet.
Walker utilizes most types of falsehoods: lies, misdirection, false excuses, breaking promises, mangling statistics and dodging questions. He counts on busy Wisconsinites not to have time to focus on how often he mangles the truth. So, the Shepherd Express has gathered a list of his deceptions from sources on the frontlines of Wisconsin politics. It easily topped 100, but below are some of the most egregious.
“I’m the education governor”
Walker’s current campaign theme is based on his belief that, if he makes a false, vague statement often enough, people will buy it. We are not that naïve. He cut $250 million from the University of Wisconsin System (though he requested an even bigger cut). K-12 public education is funded below 2010 levels due to three budgets of drastic cuts, despite his election-year claim of historic commitment that doesn’t even cover inflation. He demonized and cut pay for teachers, causing a severe shortage and a drop in teacher experience, harming students. He broke his promises of free technical college tuition, universal access to college courses and expanding tuition tax credits.
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“The law going forward should say that pre-existing conditions are covered”
Walker has often said this. It’s an incredible statement given his hard push to wipe out the Affordable Care Act (ACA). He even authorized a lawsuit against the ACA—the very law that banned discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions. During an ACA repeal debate, Walker suggested allowing insurance companies to charge higher rates to people with pre-existing conditions.
“We’re broke”
So Walker declared to justify Act 10—a ‘budget repair bill’ which gutted collective bargaining. He said that without it, state employees would get pink slips, and 200,000 children would lose Medicaid. But the fact is that Act 10 was not remotely about a need to save money, as he quickly padded his budgets with big tax breaks for the wealthy and large corporations. Proof it wasn’t a fiscal need came during the fight when employees offered up pay and benefits cuts to just keep their bargaining rights. He ignored them. Furthermore, state government can’t kick kids off Medicaid. Walker actually stated that Act 10 would leave collective bargaining “fully intact” in a Milwaukee radio interview on Feb. 18, 2011. Needless to say, PolitiFact Wisconsin rated this lie “Pants on Fire.”
250,000 new jobs?
Walker won election in 2010 vowing to create 250,000 jobs over the next four years. He even joked he’d brand it on his cabinet members’ foreheads. He did not create those jobs. He did not have a plan to do it. Nor did he ever take responsibility for his failure, instead ludicrously blaming his failure on everything from the weather to protests to European debt. Nearly eight years in, his job promise remains broken, yet he has the nerve to talk endlessly about how well he is doing in job creation. He misuses statistics, like low unemployment, that do not prove his point. This disproves it: Under Walker, Wisconsin has lagged behind the nation in job creation ever since he passed his first budget. Currently, Wisconsin is 31st among the 50 states.
Women and their doctors make “the final decision?”
“I support legislation to increase safety and to provide more information for a woman considering her options. The bill leaves the final decision to a woman and her doctor… Our priority is to protect the health and safety of all Wisconsin citizens.” In 2014, Walker looked straight at the camera and said this in a campaign ad. Then, he signed a 20-week abortion ban without exceptions—even for victims of rape or incest. Lawmakers had an exception only to save the life of the mother and Walker publicly said he was against that too.
No Walker for President?
In 2014, Walker said he would not run for president. He stated: “My plan is, if the people of the state of Wisconsin elect me on Nov. 4, is (sic) to be here for four years... it’s a position I’m committed to.” One month later, he was re-elected; eight months later, he announced his run for president. When Walker exited the presidential race in September 2015, pundits blamed his extravagant spending, lackluster debate performance, terrible poll numbers and flip-flops on such issues as immigration restrictions. However, Walker insisted the reason was his desire to unite the Republican Party against Donald Trump and provide “a positive conservative alternative.” Now, he panders to Trump and is “happy” Trump will campaign with him.
A “drafting error?”
In his 2015-’17 budget, Walker eliminated the Wisconsin Idea—a commitment to public service to better society—as part of a bigger assault on the UW System. Caught, he tweeted on Feb. 4, 2015, that it was a “drafting error.” He stood by that lie while both PolitiFact and The New York Times challenged him on it. Then, he was forced in court by the Center for Media and Democracy and The Progressive to reveal documents with the truth: There was no drafting error. The elimination of the UW mission came from Walker.
Lying about Evers
Walker told Milwaukee TV personality Mike Gousha in May 2018 that the Democrats gave the right to take over failing schools to Superintendent of Schools Tony Evers, then blaming the latter for failing to do that with schools in Milwaukee. Not only is that power not given to the State Superintendent of Schools, but Milwaukee schools do not even qualify for lesser intervention powers any longer.
“The level closest to the people is generally the best”
Walker has touted his support for local control, including telling an American Legislative Exchange Council conference in 2015: “When you send power back to the local level, the level closest to the people is generally the best.” A Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo one year later showed that, since Walker took office, he approved 128 bills and measures usurping local control or shifting unfunded mandates onto the backs of local government.
Refusing to admit being wrong
After the Sandy Hook shooting, reporters asked Walker about his views on gun control. He responded saying there is too much focus on the weapon. To illustrate this, he said there was a homicide with a bow-and-arrow near a Neenah school last week. There was no homicide. A bow-and-arrow was wielded in a domestic violence incident several miles away from the school. He stood by his statement for four days—until his spokesperson admitted Walker had been mistaken.
Refusing to call an election
After hiring two legislators at the end of 2017, Walker refused to call special elections to replace them, saying it was to save the taxpayers money and that he did not have to do it. Both statements were false. If he had called them right away, they could have been held as part of the spring elections at no additional cost. After three courts said he was breaking the law, he was forced to comply—but too late for the spring elections.
No “legislation affecting private-sector unions?”
“The governor said repeatedly during the intense battle over Act 10—his 2011 law that repealed most collective bargaining for public workers—that he would not let legislation affecting private-sector unions reach his desk,” reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A bill doing exactly that called “Right-to-Work” was rammed through the state legislature in just two weeks, and Walker signed it on March 9, 2015—on a factory floor where workers were reportedly cleared out. Since then, he’s pushed other officials, including Trump, to pass such bills.
