Walker Campaign Press Release - Governor Walker: We Deserve a President Who Will Fight, Win

Reno Gazette-Journal

August 23, 2015

There are many candidates running for president who say they will fight to make America a better place, but very few have a record of actually following through on their campaign promises and winning those fights.

Everywhere I go, Americans tell me they are weary of politicians who talk tough on the floor of Congress, on the campaign stump or at political debates, but have thin records when it comes to actually fixing the dysfunction that seems inherent in government nowadays.

In Nevada and across the country, people know our nation's capital is broken. Politicians in Washington are spending money taxpayers don't have, placing obstacles in the way of job creation, and they aren't doing enough to keep our homeland safe. The current top-down, government-knows-best approach is not working now, and it won't work in the future.

But simply talking about the problems in Washington will not fix them. True reform requires big, bold, comprehensive action and a president who knows how to fight for those reforms and win.

When I became governor of Wisconsin, the state government was broken. We inherited a $3.6 billion deficit. The rainy day fund was nearly drained and special interests were in charge at the state and local levels. We had a lot of work to do, and undoing the damage required bold action.

We started Wisconsin's turnaround by passing common-sense reforms that required public employees to make reasonable contributions to their health care and retirement benefits and ended taxpayer-funded collection of union dues.

Liberal union bosses fought our reforms tooth and nail, organizing 100,000 protesters to occupy our state capitol grounds. Unintimidated by their attacks and protests, we took them on and we won.

On behalf of Wisconsin students and teachers, we began repairing a broken educational system that rewarded tenure and seniority over teacher performance. Under the reforms we enacted, the old rules are now in the history books.

Our policies are working. Four years later graduation rates are up, third grade reading scores are higher and Wisconsin's ACT scores are now second best in the country.

To read the rest of the op-ed, click here.