Scott Walker Wants to Make His Signature Wisconsin Issue a National Policy Fight

IJReview ^ | May 6, 2015 | Frank Camp

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Gov. Scott Walker wants to make the most public fight of his administration a national issue should he run for president.

In an interview with Radio Iowa, the Wisconsin Republican made the case for a national “right to work” law:

“As much as I think the federal government should get out of most of what it’s in right now, I think establishing fundamental freedoms for the American people is a legitimate thing and that would be something that would provide that opportunity in the other half of America to people who don’t have those opportunities today.”

Currently, twenty-five states have right-to-work law. But if Walker were the nominee, he would likely make right-to-work a centerpiece of his candidacy.

During his tenure as Governor, Walker has fought for the laws, which, according to Radio Iowa:

“…forbid organized labor from forcing non-union workers to pay union dues or fees in a workplace where employees have voted to unionize.”

In a piece for National Review, attorney Peter Kirsanow wrote:

“Public-sector unions contribute millions to the campaigns of the very individuals who will be negotiating the contracts with the unions. Both management and labor know this and understand it’s happily ridiculous.”

Walker saw this, and fought accordingly to put an end to what he viewed as a system of corrupt cyclical benefits between government and public sector unions:

“For example, we got rid of seniority and tenure. You can hire and fire based on merit. You can pay based on performance…We found in our schools and our local and state governments you can put the best and the brightest in those positions.”

Interestingly enough, Walker isn’t the only one talking about such issues.

His position is not dissimilar to that of recently announced presidential candidate, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, who has condemned seniority and tenure on multiple occasions:

“The single greatest impediment to equal pay for equal work is the seniority system, which pays not on merit and not on performance, but on time and grade…and who is it who supports the seniority system? Unions, [and] government bureaucracies…”

It appears as though public sector unions, seniority, and tenure may develop into hot-button issues during the 2016 election cycle, given that two prominent candidates owe much of their success to fighting them.

The other candidates should prepare accordingly. This could escalate quickly.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The other candidates should prepare accordingly. This could escalate quickly.

It did when Walker took on the union bosses and their benefactors in the Democratic Party and it continues:

393 cites, 11 books, protest spin-offs, ongoing repercussions for standing with Walker

Wisconsin’s Shame: ‘I Thought It Was a Home Invasion’

Between 2010 and 2013, Chisholm's office investigated staff and campaign supporters of Scott Walker, then the Milwaukee County executive and the Governor of Wisconsin from 2011 (on), through the state's "John Doe" investigatory process, which is unique to Wisconsin.

January 3, 2011 - Walker assumes Office of Governor of Wisconsin.

June 22, 2011: Walker Revokes In-state Tuition For Undocumented Students Attending Universities And Colleges In Wisconsin

"....[Gov. Scott] Walker signed his two-year budget at the Fox Valley Metal-Tech's Plant in Ashwaubenon near Greenbay. More than 200 protestors were outside the company with signs calling Walker, "You dirty rat" and "Shame, shame."...........Governor Walker is facing a recall for ending collective bargaining and drastically cutting public education funding, once he completes one year in office."

_____________

Gov. Scott Walker won the recall election (with bigger numbers). He is the only governor to survive a recall election.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Breitbart: Conservative Media Rallies to Walker After Tough Talk on Legal Immigration

"The conservative movement’s leading media icons lined up to back Scott Walker after the media attempted to lynch him for talking tough on immigration.

After being attacked by outlets such as MSNBC, Mother Jones magazine and the Huffington Post, Walker stayed the course, telling the Quad City Times on Friday that American workers had to come first.

“A couple years ago, when the unemployment rate was at incredibly high levels and labor participation was low, why would we want to flood the market with more workers?” he said. “So that would be a time when you would have arguably less. As the unemployment rate goes down and labor participation rates go up, the two have to go hand in hand. Then it could be conceivably more than we have today. So it’s not a set number.”....

--------

Townhall: Scott Walker is Right About Reducing Legal Immigration

“In terms of legal immigration, how we need to approach that going forward is saying — the next president and the next congress need to make decisions about a legal immigration system that's based on, first and foremost, protecting American workers and American wages, because the more I've talked to folks, I've talked to Senator Sessions and others out there — but it is a fundamentally lost issue by many in elected positions today — is what is this doing for American workers looking for jobs, what is this doing to wages, and we need to have that be at the forefront of our discussion going forward.” – Scott Walker

It doesn’t matter if your ancestors came over on the Mayflower or if you became a citizen yesterday. An American citizen is an American citizen is an American citizen. However, there’s a world of difference between an American citizen and a foreigner. We owe American citizens a lot. We owe foreigners very little.

With that in mind, the first question that should asked when it comes to our legal immigration policy is, “Is this policy good for the Americans that are already here?”

According to Gallup, 39% of Americans want less immigration and only 7% want more, so to the larger plurality of Americans, what Scott Walker said is just common sense. However, among the political class, Walker’s comments set off a firestorm because so many of them have stopped taking what’s good for the American people into account when they consider immigration.

We already have limits on immigration, but the only thing that we ever seem to discuss is whether to raise them. That’s certainly not because the current massive level of immigration is helping the middle class..........."

[Cincinatus' Wife]

NYT, March 12, 2015 - Debate: Scott Walker, ‘Right to Work’ and Labor’s Waning Power

"This week Wisconsin became the 25th state to adopt a “right-to-work” law, preventing unions from forcing workers at the companies they represent to pay dues. Supporters say these measures promote growth and increase jobs. Opponents say they gut unions and lower wages.

Are “right to work” laws worthwhile?" Read the discussion." --- [5 OpEds grouped together]

[SauronOfMordor]

The most important issues are the ones which lessen the power of the Left. Destroying the power of unions is one of those.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Yes.

The Democratic Party’s laundered receipt of forced protection money taken from workers - called union dues - being threatened and cut off, is a biggie!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

March 2015: “We strongly dispute this account. Governor Walker has been very clear that he does not support amnesty and believes that border security must be established and the rule of law must be followed. His position has not changed, he does not support citizenship for illegal immigrants, and this story line is false,” she announced in an email to journalists Thursday afternoon.”

“I made it clear that for me, if somebody wants to be a citizen, they need to go back to their country of origin, get in line, no preferential treatment,” Walker said. “In terms of what to do beyond that, again, that’s something we got to work with Congress on.”

[sneakers]

bttt

[afraidfortherepublic]

Walker calls for a national debate on “right to work”.

FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.

[aces]

yep, go Scott

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The sources in your Scott Walker opposition post, quoting and linking to the "Wisconsin Rapids Tribune" and the "Appleton Post-Crescent," are not to be posted on FR:

List of Gannett publications that cannot be posted to Free Republic per their copyright complaint

[ExCTCitizen]

A national right to work law would be great. With that and a overhaul of business taxes, maybe manufacturing will come back.

[Poison Pill]

a national “right to work” law:

It's coming, one way or the other. There's going to be a huge push to make human labor more cost effective vs. robots and automation. It won't work, but the politicians will take a stab at it. Robots don't vote... yet.

[onyx]

B T T T ! ! ! ©

[Yosemitest]

My source is http://www.ontheissues.org/Governor/Scott_Walker_Immigration.htm and is a DIRECT QUPOTE FROM Scott Walker stating his PRO-AMNESTY position

[Yosemitest]

Your PRO-AMNESTY Candidate, Scott Walker, is PROVED to be TALKING OUT OF BOTHS SIDES OF THE ISSUE (you CAN NOT TRUST him.
Watch the videos and READ the article from HOT AIR, most certainly not on your list of band-sourves.\

... Two points.
One: He says he’s not for amnesty, his citizenship stance notwithstanding, but that’s not a new soundbite for Walker.
“Amnesty” means many things to many people;
to the Gang of Eight, for instance, the fact that illegals would be forced to meet certain requirements (paying back taxes, etc) before qualifying for citizenship meant that their plan wasn’t “amnesty.”
Walker’s been insisting for more than a year that he doesn’t support “amnesty” either
even though he does support citizenship and liberalizing the rules for legal immigration.

Two: He’s quick to tell Raddatz that he’ll lay out his own immigration plan eventually if he becomes a candidate,
which is his way of saying “don’t ask me anything too specific right now.”

Listening to him here, you would think he didn’t have firm opinions on immigration
yet beyond some basic principles like “secure the border.”
But that’s not so.
Watch him field a question on immigration from 2013 in the second clip below
and note what he says about border security at around 1:30.
For Walker, securing the border is less a matter of building a fence or hiring 10,000 new Border Patrol agents than it is about RELAXING THE RULES for legal admission to the U.S.
His view seems to be
that if you want to come here to work, IT SHOULD BE VERY EASY FOR YOU TO DO SO —
easy enough that you wouldn’t even think of crossing the border illegally, as the legal route would be just as simple.
...


Scott Walker Non-Committal on Immigration ( 0:53 ) by National Review

[Impy]

YES.

I’ve been saying for years that we need that.