Thank Goodness for Small Favors by Scott Walker July 21, 2009

Last week, in response to criticism about tax and spending increases in the state budget, State Senator John Lehman told Racine area taxpayers that they should count their blessings:

Things could be much worse. “We’re not in as bad shape as California, issuing IOUs,” he said. “Or Oregon, where the fee for auto license plates just went from $54 to $162 per year. Or New Jersey, where property taxes in one community went up 100%.”

With all due respect to Senator Lehman, not being as bad as California is not good enough. I also suggest that the Senator stop trying to convince us that Doyle’s budget did not raise any “big taxes.” First, even if the statement were true, it is little consolation to the thousands of Wisconsin workers whose jobs were driven out of the state by Doyle’s anti-business tax and regulatory policies. Second, it is clear from press accounts of the event that the audience is not buying the Senator’s spin.

At one point during the meeting, Senator Lehman used the word “cowardly” to describe the people who flew banners during a Fourth of July parade criticizing Lehman and Governor Doyle for increasing taxes. While I would not characterize this exercise of free speech as cowardly, I do believe that showing up at the Racine County Taxpayer’s Association after voting to raise taxes and fees by more than $2 billion may be the most courageous thing Senator Lehman has ever done.

Now there are two strong Republican Candidates to challenge Doyle

In addition to Scott Walker, now Mark Neumann has announced……………

Neumann Runs For Govenor

By Jay Sorgi

MILWAUKEE - County Executive Scott Walker, the Republican race for Governor has just been joined.

Former Wisconsin Congressman Mark Neumann decided to throw his hat in the race for the Republican nomination to unseat current Democratic Governor Jim Doyle.

Why? The failing economy of the state and his business experience, said Neumann on 620WTMJ’s “Midday with Charlie Sykes.”

“When I left office 10 years ago, things were in pretty good shape,” Neumann explained.

“We had a balanced budget at the federal level. Jobs were being created. People seemed to understand that reducing taxes was the way to create jobs.”

“10 years (have) gone by. I’ve gone back to the private sector. We build a bunch of different businesses. I’m on the front line in the business world, and I understand that when government passes new rules and regulations and raises taxes, that it is very anti-business. We’ve seen 133,000 jobs leave the state of Wisconsin in the last 12 months alone. That’s the reason for getting in.”

“I think that private sector experience, understanding what it takes to sit at a table and negotiate a business agreement that both sides are happy with at the end of the day, those are the skills that we need, right now, leading this state to bring the jobs back.”

Neumann proposes a series of tax decreases if he gets into the Governor’s mansion.

“We’re going to bring taxes down in this state. If we want to attract jobs and businesses back to the state of Wisconsin, we have to bring our taxes down. It’s not only ‘no new taxes.’ We’re looking to look at ways to bring the tax structure more into line, to make Wisconsin more competitive in the marketplace for jobs.”

“We would have proposed a budget with no spending increases from the prior budget. The Doyle budget that was proposed and being acted upon was a 10.7% spending increase from the last biennium. He increased spending by $600 million in the middle of this recession. If it would have been Governor Neumann, you would have had a spending proposal without the spending increases to start with, in which case, we would not be dealing with the deficit we’re dealing with today.”

Neumann claims that at the federal level, he also has experience at helping turn around economies.

“When I went to Congress 14 years ago, we were in the same kind of a mess were in today. Everyone was talking about deficit spending, We were talking about how that high deficit was causing businesses to leave our nation, leave Wisconsin, leave our country.”

“It took four years after I entered Congress. We had a balanced budget. We were paying off federal debt. We had passed the biggest tax cut in history, and literally, every time you saw a jobs report, you saw tens of thousands of new jobs were being created every month.

“You can’t spend your way out of a recession. It just doesn’t work to tax and spend your way out of a recession.”

Why does he believe he can run Wisconsin better than Scott Walker? To him, it’s that he hasn’t been in government in recent years, and has worked in the business world.

“I honestly believe that the private sector experience, sitting down at the table, negotiating business transactions over the last 10 years probably in excess of over 1,000 times, where the people on both sides of the desk feel that their satisfied at the end of the day, is the experience that we need in the governor’s chair to bring these businesses back to Wisconsin.”

“I’ve got nothing against Scott Walker. Scott’s a good guy, but the bottom line is, he’s been in the political world all of his career. I’m not saying that’s negative or bad. I’m saying that’s not the skill set we need right now at this particular point in history to restore this state.”

Why not run for Congress again? Neumann says it has to do with not having a plan for the nation’s problems, whereas he thinks he realistically could succeed as governor.

“That’s something we thought a lot about,” said Neumann.

“When I went to Congress 14 years ago, I had a plan in my back pocket. ‘Here’s what we need to do to balance out the federal budget.’ I’m not saying we implemented it by ourselves, but that plan was implemented and it did work. When I look at the federal plan today, I honestly can’t say I have a plan to fix it. They’ve got it so far out of whack. The best hope for America is for us to create a better model right here in Wisconsin and show how to be globally competitive in the marketplace.”