Early life and career

Walker was born on November 2, 1967 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the elder of two sons of Patricia Ann "Pat" (née Fitch; born December 30, 1938), a bookkeeper, and Llewellyn Scott “Llew” Walker (born May 19, 1939), a Baptist minister. Two of his paternal great-great-grandparents were from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, while his mother is of mostly German descent. His other roots are English, Irish, Scottish, and Bohemian.

The family moved to Plainfield, Iowa in 1970, where Llew worked as pastor in the local Baptist Church and served on the municipal council. When Walker was ten years old, the family moved to Delavan, Wisconsin, where his father continued to work as a preacher. In high school, he attended two weeks of American Legion-sponsored training in leadership and government at Badger Boys State in Wisconsin and the selective Boys Nation in Washington, D.C. Walker has credited the experience with solidifying his interest in public service and giving him the "political bug". He attained the highest rank, Eagle Scout, in the Boy Scouts of America, and graduated from Delavan-Darien High School in 1986.

In 1986, Walker worked as a volunteer for Tommy Thompson's gubernatorial campaign, and in the fall of that year, enrolled at Marquette University. Within a few weeks of beginning studies, Walker became a student senator and a few weeks later led a probe involving student government leaders misusing funds during homecoming. Walker's committee recommended impeachment of those being investigated, leading many to resign, and earning Walker enemies, a number of whom, according to Politifact, "continue to taunt him today". In 1988, he ran for student government president. The election was very close, with Walker touting a 19-point resume, and was a cause for division on campus. On election day, a record number of students voted, with Walker losing 927 to 1,245, following an alleged infringement of campaign guidelines; an election commission later found Walker guilty of beginning his campaign one week before he was allowed. His opponent was impeached shortly after taking office but Walker did not apply for the position and discontinued his studies at Marquette in the spring of 1990. He left in good standing with, according to his campaign, a 2.6/4.0 grade point average but without obtaining a degree. Walker has said he dropped out of college when he received an offer for a full-time job with the American Red Cross; he had worked part-time in college for IBM selling warranties on mainframe computers, which led to the American Red Cross position.

Wisconsin State Assembly

In 1990, at age 22, Walker ran for Milwaukee's 7th District seat in the Wisconsin State Assembly. He won the Republican nomination, but lost in the general election to incumbent Democrat Gwen Moore, receiving less than one-third of the vote. Walker has not lost a competitive political race since then. In 1993, Walker moved to Wauwatosa, a suburb of Milwaukee, and ran in a special election in the more conservative 14th legislative district, based around Wauwatosa. He defeated Democrat Chris Ament, son of then-Milwaukee County Executive Tom Ament.

During the campaign, Walker backed welfare reform and opposed the expansion of mass transit. He supported a cap on state spending and said that the law on resolving labor disputes with local government employees needed to be reformed. Walker received the endorsements of Wisconsin Right to Life and The Milwaukee Sentinel, which called him a fiscal conservative and noted his pro-life, tough-on-crime, and pro-welfare reform positions. He was re-elected four times, serving until 2002 when he became a county executive.

While in the State Assembly, he was interested in criminal justice matters and chaired the Committees on Correctional Facilities, and Corrections and the Courts. Over the years, he served on a number of other committees, including Health, Census and Redistricting, Financial Institutions, and Housing. As a freshman legislator in 1993, he co-sponsored right-to-work legislation. In 1999 he took the lead in a truth-in-sentencing bill that increased prison time for some crimes, eliminated parole for others, and subsequently contributed to prison overcrowding. Walker was a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) at the time, and credited the organization for much of the success of the legislation.

In 2001, he was the lead sponsor of a bill to prevent pharmacists from being disciplined for refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception and was a strong supporter of a bill to require voters to show photo ID at the polls. According to research by two political analysts, Walker was more conservative than about 90% of his peers in the Assembly and about 80% of the Republicans in the Assembly.

In 2001-02, Walker and fellow state assembly member Michael Huebsch objected to the hiring of a state employee, Rev. Jamyi Witch, on the basis of her religious beliefs as a Wiccan. Walker claimed that Witch's hiring as a prison chaplain raised "both personal and political concerns" because she "practice a religion that actually offends people of many other faiths". Walker and Huebsch were ultimately unsuccessful in terminating Witch's chaplaincy or employment.

Milwaukee County Executive

Walker became Milwaukee County Executive in a special election run in April 2002, after the former County Executive, Tom Ament, resigned in the wake of a county pension fund scandal. Walker was elected to a four-year term in 2004, winning 57% of the vote to defeat former state budget director, David Riemer. He won another four-year term in 2008, defeating State Senator Lena Taylor with 59% of the vote. Walker is the only Republican to hold this office to date.

Walker won the office on a platform of fiscal conservatism, promising to give back part of his own salary. He said that his voluntary give-back gave him moral authority to make cuts in the budget. He returned $60,000 per year (slightly less than half of his salary) during his first term, and reduced his give-back to $10,000 per year during his second term.

During his eight years in office, there were disputes with the county board "over taxes, privatization of public services, quality of parks and public buildings, and delivery of social services", according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The County Board approved several budgets over Walker's veto and he never submitted a budget with a higher property tax than the board had approved the prior year. According to Walker, during his tenure the number of county employees was reduced by over 20% and the $3.5 million county deficit was turned into a surplus.

Operation Freedom investigation

Walker appointed Kevin Kavanaugh, treasurer of the local chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, as a member of the County Veterans Service Commission. Walker raised funds annually for veterans at the Operation Freedom Benefit, with proceeds to the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Walker's Chief of Staff, Thomas Nardelli, indicated that he went to Walker with concerns about missing money in 2009, and Walker directed him to report it to the district attorney's office. The district attorney did not immediately act but later launched a "John Doe" investigation. Kavanaugh and four others were arrested for theft of funds. Kavanaugh was convicted and sentenced to 21 months in prison.

Tim Russell, employed by Walker in a number of posts, was implicated in the same investigation; he was charged in January 2012 and pled guilty in November 2012 to diverting more than $21,000 to his personal bank account. In 2010, Walker's last year as Milwaukee County executive, Russell was his deputy chief of staff and Milwaukee Housing Director. Walker was not charged with any wrongdoing.

Governor of Wisconsin

Elections

2006 campaign for governor

Main article: Wisconsin gubernatorial election, 2006

While county executive, Walker became a candidate, in February 2005, in the 2006 race for Wisconsin governor. He dropped out in April 2006, after 14 months of campaigning, citing fundraising difficulties. Walker threw his support to fellow Republican Mark Andrew Green, who won the Republican primary unopposed. Green lost the general election, in November 2006, to the incumbent Democrat, Jim Doyle.

2010 campaign for governor

Further information: Wisconsin gubernatorial election, 2010

Walker became an early favorite for the 2010 Republican Party endorsement for Wisconsin governor, winning straw polls of Wisconsin GOP convention attendees in 2007 and 2008. He announced his candidacy in late April 2009 after several months of previewing his campaign themes of reduced taxes and reduced spending to Republican audiences around the state. He criticized the 2009-11 Wisconsin state budget as too big given the slow economy. In 2009 and 2010, Americans for Prosperity helped raise Walker's statewide profile, inviting him to address its events and rallies throughout the state. Walker won the Wisconsin GOP convention endorsement on May 22, 2010, receiving 91% of the votes cast by delegates. Walker won the Republican nomination in the primary election of September 14, 2010, receiving 59% of the popular vote, while former U.S. Representative Mark Neumann garnered 39%.

As part of his campaign platform, Walker said he would create 250,000 jobs in his first term through a program that would include tax cuts for small businesses, capital gains tax cuts, and income tax cuts. He proposed cutting state employee wages and benefits to help pay for these tax cuts. Critics argued that his proposals would help only the wealthy and that cutting the salaries of public employees would adversely affect state services, while supporters argued that tax cuts for businesses would spur the economy and create jobs.

Walker indicated he would refuse an $810 million award from the federal Department of Transportation to build a high speed railroad line from Madison to Milwaukee as he believed it would cost the state $7.5 million per year to operate and would not prove profitable. This was in spite of offers by the mayor of Madison and the Dane County executive to help absorb costs the state might have incurred. The award was later rescinded and split among other states. This cost the state at least $60 million for rail repairs federal funds would have covered.

Social issues played a part in the campaign. Walker has stated that he is "100% pro-life" and that he believes life should be protected from conception to natural death. He opposes abortion, including in cases of rape and incest. He supports abstinence-only sex education in the public schools and opposes state supported clinical services that provide birth control and testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases to teens under age 18 without parental consent. He supports the right of pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for contraceptives on religious or moral grounds. He supports adult stem cell research but opposes human embryonic stem cell research. A supporter of traditional marriage, he opposed a law that allowed gay couples to register with counties to get certain benefits, such as hospital visitation rights. Walker said that he would sign an Arizona-style immigration bill, which would allow local police to stop suspected illegal immigrants, if he were elected.

On November 2, 2010, his 43rd birthday, Walker won the general election with 52% of total votes cast, while Democrat Tom Barrett received 46%. His running mate, now Lieutenant Governor, was Rebecca Kleefisch, a former Milwaukee television news reporter.

2012 recall election

Main article: Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election

After the contentious collective bargaining dispute, Walker's disapproval ratings varied between 50% and 51% while his approval ratings varied between 47% and 49% in 2011. The effort to recall Walker officially began on November 15, 2011.

Walker reportedly raised more than $30 million during the recall effort, with a significant portion from out of state. Commentators claimed the amount of money raised was "illustrating the national significance both political parties saw in the recall fight". In March 2012, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board announced there were more than 900,000 valid signatures to force a recall vote, well above the required minimum.

In February 2012, Walker's campaign requested additional time for the petition signatures to be verified, claiming about 20% of the signatures were not valid. Democrats argued that even if 20% of the signatures were disregarded they still had obtained 300,000 more signatures than required to initiate the recall. Wisconsin Democratic Party Communications Director Graeme Zielinski claimed Walker was "delaying the inevitable". On February 17, 2012, Dane County judge Richard Niess denied Walker's request for additional time. On March 30, 2012, the Government Accountability Board unanimously ruled in favor of the recall election. The recall election for both Walker and Kleefisch took place on June 5, 2012.

During the Republican primary election for the recall, Walker received 626,538 votes. In the Democratic primary, all of the Democratic candidates combined received 670,288, with the winner, Tom Barrett, receiving 390,109, a majority. On June 5, 2012, Walker won the recall election. This was only the third gubernatorial recall election in U.S. history and the first and only one to date which failed. Walker won the recall against Barrett by a slightly larger margin (53% to 46%) than the 2010 election (52% to 46%).

2014 campaign for governor

Main article: Wisconsin gubernatorial election, 2014

In his third election in four years, Walker faced Democrat Mary Burke to determine the governor of Wisconsin. Wisconsin labor unions, who helped organize the 2012 Wisconsin recall election, donated funds to boost Burke's campaign. Walker received help from a number of conservative donors. The polling throughout the race was close and no candidate was a definitive favorite. The gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014 and Walker won re-election by 6 percent of the vote.

Tenure

Walker took the oath of office to become the 45th Governor of Wisconsin on January 3, 2011.

By January 25, 2011, the state legislature passed a series of Walker-backed bills, the largest of which would cut taxes for businesses at "a two-year cost of $67 million", according to the Associated Press.

Walker became a figure of national recognition and controversy after he proposed the "Wisconsin budget repair bill" in 2011. The bill, which would eventually be passed by the Wisconsin Legislature, significantly changed the collective bargaining process for most public employees in Wisconsin. Opponents of Walker's actions launched a push for a recall election and received enough support to force an election on June 5, 2012, the first time a Governor of Wisconsin had ever faced recall. Walker successfully kept his seat as governor after winning the Wisconsin recall election against two-time opponent Tom Barrett. Walker won the recall by a slightly larger margin (53% to 46%) than the 2010 election (52% to 46%), making him the first U.S. governor to have successfully kept the seat as governor in a recall election.

During Walker's first term as governor, the state's $3.6 billion budget deficit was turned into a surplus and taxes were cut by $2 billion. More than 100,000 jobs were created in the state of Wisconsin. However it has yet to regain all the jobs lost during and after the Great Recession of 2007-2009.

2011 Budget Repair Bill and protests

Further information: 2011 Wisconsin protests

Walker proposed the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill on February 11, 2011, estimated to save Wisconsin $30 million in the current fiscal year and $300 million over the next two years. The bill requires additional contributions by state and local government workers to their health care plans and pensions, amounting to roughly an 8% decrease in the average government worker's take home pay. The bill eliminated, for most state workers, other than certain public safety workers, many collective bargaining rights aside from seeking pay increases, and then not above the rate of inflation, unless approved by a voter referendum. Under the bill unions have to win yearly votes to continue representing government workers and could no longer have dues automatically deducted from government workers' paychecks. Certain law enforcement personnel and firefighters are exempt from the bargaining changes.

On January 18, 2011, days after Walker's inauguration, Beloit businesswoman and Walker supporter Diane Hendricks asked him, "Any chance we'll ever get to be a completely red state and work on these unions and become a right-to-work (state)?", and he replied:

Well, we're going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill. The first step is, we're going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employee unions, because you use divide and conquer. So for us the base we've got for that is the fact that we've got - budgetarily we can't afford not to. If we have collective bargaining agreements in place, there's no way not only the state but local governments can balance things out. So you think city of Beloit, city of Janesville, any of the school districts, that opens the door once we do that. That's your bigger problem right there.

After video tape of the interaction was released in May, 2012, Walker's opponents said Walker had revealed his intention to target private sector unions and pursue right-to-work legislation. Walker said he was not pursuing right-to-work legislation and that in his 2011 comment to Hendricks he was referring to his responsibility as governor to defend taxpayers from unions that he believed were frustrating resolution of the state's budget deficit.

In announcing the proposed legislation, Walker said the Wisconsin National Guard and other state agencies were prepared to prevent disruptions in state services. He later explained that police and firefighters were excluded from the changes because he would not jeopardize public safety. Walker stated that the bill was necessary to avoid laying off thousands of state employees and that no one should be surprised by its provisions. Union leaders and Democratic legislators immediately criticized the bill, claiming Walker had never campaigned on doing away with collective bargaining rights. In a media interview a week later, Walker said he was not trying to break the public sector unions, noting that Wisconsin government employees would retain the protections of civil service laws. He said that asking employees to pay half the national average for health care benefits was a modest request.

Demonstrators began protesting the proposed bill on February 14, 2011. During the sixth day of the protests, leaders of the two largest unions said publicly they were prepared to accept the financial concessions in the bill, but would not agree to the limitations of collective bargaining rights. All 14 of the Democratic state senators fled the state to Illinois on February 17, preventing the passage of the bill by the (Republican-controlled) legislature in the absence of the quorum necessary for a vote. The missing legislators said they would not return to Madison unless Walker agreed to remove the limitations on collective bargaining from the bill. Walker warned that if the budget repair bill was not passed by March 1, refinancing of a $165 million state debt would fail, and more cuts would be needed to balance the budget.

Appearing on Meet the Press on February 27, Walker stated that he did not believe the unions were negotiating in good faith in offering pension and health care concessions because local unions had recently pushed through contracts with school boards and city councils that did not include contributions to the pensions and health care and that, in one case, a contract even included a pay increase. On February 28, the largest public union filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the state labor relations board, claiming that Walker had a duty to negotiate, but had refused.

On March 8, private emails dating back to February 28 were released. These emails showed that Governor Walker had tried to negotiate with Democratic legislators, even proposing to allow some collective bargaining rights. However, after failing to reach a compromise with Democratic legislators, the Republican Senate legislators removed certain fiscal provisions from the bill, allowing it to be passed by a simple senate majority.

On March 18, Judge Maryann Sumi issued a court order to prohibit publication of the bill by the Secretary of State while legal challenges to it were being considered. On March 26, the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) published the bill. Republicans contended the court order did not mention the LRB, which is (also) responsible for publishing laws, and that the publication made the bill law. Democrats maintained the bill could not become law until the Secretary of State took action, and the entire law was published in the state newspaper of record, the Wisconsin State Journal. Judge Sumi subsequently clarified that, pursuant to her order, the bill could not be considered to be published, pending completion of court review.

On May 26, Judge Sumi struck down the budget repair bill, finding that its passage was in violation of state open meetings laws. The Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned Sumi's ruling on June 14.

Walker claimed the measures would "save jobs, protect taxpayers, reform government and help balance the budget." He added, "You see, despite a lot of the rhetoric we've heard over the past 11 days the bill I put forward isn't aimed at state workers, and it certainly isn't a battle with unions. If it was, we would have eliminated collective bargaining entirely or we would have gone after the private-sector unions." As part of the cost savings resulting from the changes to collective bargaining, Walker points to significant reductions in the premiums for health insurance for many school districts. Prior to the deficit reduction bill, WEA Trust, which is affiliated with Wisconsin's largest teachers union, dominated the market for health insurance for the state's school districts. The changes to collective bargaining made it easier for school districts to change health insurance providers and negotiate better premiums. Walker claims that Wisconsin school districts have saved an estimated $30 million as a result of the change.

Investigation of alleged illegal campaign coordination

In August 2012, the first investigation, which had been launched by John Chisholm, Milwaukee County District Attorney, a Democrat, into missing funds, was rolled into a second John Doe probe based on a theory that Governor Walker's campaign had illegally coordinated with conservative groups engaged in issue advocacy during the recall elections.

The initial John Doe judge, retired Kenosha County Circuit Judge Barbara A. Kluka, overseeing the John Doe investigation issued 30 subpoenas and 5 search warrants. She also issued a secrecy order which meant those being investigated were legally-bound from discussing any facet of the investigation publicly. On October 29, 2013, she recused herself from the investigation without explanation. Kluka's replacement, Judge Gregory Peterson, quashed several subpoenas in January 2014, saying "there was no probable cause shown that they violated campaign finance laws". On July 16, 2015, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Walker did not illegally collaborate with conservative groups during the recall campaigns. Writing for the majority in the case, Justice Michael Gableman stated: “To be clear, this conclusion ends the John Doe investigation because the special prosecutor’s legal theory is unsupported in either reason or law,” he said. “Consequently, the investigation is closed.”

2011-2013 budget proposal

Wisconsin faced an anticipated deficit of approximately $3.6 billion in the 2012-13 budget cycle which must be balanced according to state law. Walker's proposed budget cut $834 million in state aid for K-12 education, which would be a 7.9% reduction from the prior budget. He proposed a 5.5% decrease in the maximum amount of funding school districts can receive from state aid and property taxes, which would limit how much property taxes could be increased to compensate for the reduction in state aid. The budget lowered state capital gains taxes for investments in Wisconsin businesses. It increased spending on health care by $1.3 billion to cover increased costs for Medicaid, and increased transportation funding by $410.5 million.

2013-2015 budget proposal

Walker's proposed budget for fiscal 2013-2015 froze spending on public schools and tightened the income requirements for Medicaid recipients. It proposed an increase in funding for fighting domestic violence, mental health care, higher education, and job training. It also included a $343 million cut in income taxes and an expansion of the state's school voucher program.

2015-2017 budget proposal

Walker's proposed budget for fiscal 2015-2017 included a $300 million cut to the University of Wisconsin System, while holding funding flat for K-12 public schools and continuing to expand the school voucher program. It included a plan to borrow $1.3 billion to fund improvements to roads and infrastructure, and proposed drug testing for recipients of public benefits like Medicaid and food stamps.

Domestic partner registry defense

On May 13, 2011, the Walker administration petitioned the Dane County Circuit Court for permission to withdraw the state as a defendant from Appling v. Doyle, which was a challenge to the state's domestic partner registry.

Regulatory reform bill

On May 23, 2011, Walker signed legislation making changes to the process of creating administrative rules for the state. This measure, which became 2011 Wisconsin Act 21 (and became effective June 8, 2011), changes State agency authority to promulgate rules, provides for gubernatorial approval of proposed rules, makes revisions to the requirement of an economic impact analysis for proposed rules and changes venue in the process of judicial review of agency rules.

Voter ID law

Main article: 2011 Wisconsin Act 23

On May 25, 2011, Walker signed a Voter ID Law that required voters to show a government-issued ID before casting a ballot.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit in federal court to invalidate the law on December 13, 2011, claiming the law violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law. On April 29, 2014, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman struck down the law, saying it violated the Voting Rights Act and U.S. Constitution.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the voter ID law under the Constitution of Wisconsin in two other cases in July 2014. On September 12, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the law to be put into effect just 54 days before the 2014 elections, overturning a previous ruling in federal court.

On October 9, 2014, the state was again barred from implementing the Voter ID law for 2014 by the U.S. Supreme Court. On March 23, 2015, the Supreme Court denied writ of certiorari, thus ruling in favor of the state of Wisconsin's new stricter voter ID law.

Rejection of health care funds

In January 2012, Walker returned a $37.6 million federal grant meant to set up a health exchange in Wisconsin for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Walker said "Stopping the encroachment of Obamacare in our state, which has the potential to have a devastating impact on Wisconsin's economy, is a top priority." Walker rejected an $11 million federal grant designed to improve Medicaid enrollment systems. It can take up to 3 months to determine whether an applicant qualifies for the program. If the applicant does not qualify, the state must pay the medical costs for the first three months. The Walker administration previously said it wants to end the practice of presuming some applicants are eligible and go to a real-time system for determining eligibility. Walker rejected an expansion of Medicaid coverage for the state, but instead reduced the eligibility requirements for the state's BadgerCare program.

Education

On April 2, 2012, Walker signed a law to fund evaluation of the reading skills of kindergartners as part of an initiative to ensure that students are reading at or above grade level by 3rd grade. The law also created a system for evaluating teachers and principals based in part on the performance of their students. It specified that student performance metrics must be based on objective measures, including their performance on standardized tests.

Walker approved a two-year freeze of tuition at the University of Wisconsin System in the 2013 budget. In 2014, he proposed a two-year extension of the freeze based on expected cash balances for the system in excess of $1 billion.

On February 3, 2015, Walker delivered a budget proposal to the Wisconsin Legislature, in which he recommended placing the University of Wisconsin system under the direction of a "private authority", governed by the Board of Regents (all the governor's appointees). The budget proposal called for a 13% reduction in state funding for the university system.

The budget proposal also called for re-writing the Wisconsin Idea, replacing the university's fundamental commitment to the "search for truth" with the goal of workforce readiness. Walker faced broad criticism for the changes and at first blamed the re-writing of the Wisconsin Idea on a "drafting error". Politifact and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel later reported that Walker's administration had insisted to University of Wisconsin officials on scrapping the Wisconsin Idea, the guiding principle for the state's universities for more than a century. Walker then acknowledged that UW System officials had raised objections about the proposal and had been told the changes were not open to debate.

Indian gaming

Section 20(b)(1)(A) of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) gives governors unrestricted authority to approve or veto any off-reservation tribal casino located in their state. Walker has stated that he will only approve new off-reservation casino projects if they are supported by every tribe in the state. This has been referred to as the "Walker Rule". In January 2015, Walker rejected a proposed casino in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Abortion

Walker signed the 2011 state budget that de-funded Planned Parenthood.

In 2013, Walker signed a bill that requires women seeking abortions to undergo an ultrasound and doctors to show the women the image of the fetus.

Right to work

In 2012, Walker told reporters at the state Republican Party convention that right-to-work legislation "It's not going to get to my desk ... I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure it isn't there because my focal point (is) private sector unions have overwhelmingly come to the table to be my partner in economic development." While campaigning for re-election in 2014, Walker again said he had no plans to pursue right-to-work legislation focused on private unions.

Once the legislation was initiated in the state legislature, Walker stated: "I haven't changed my position on it, it just wasn't a priority for me. But should they pass it within the next two weeks, which is their target, I plan on signing it." On March 9, 2015, Walker signed legislation making Wisconsin a right-to-work state. The law applied to private employee unions as well as public. Once signed, Walker claimed partial credit for the right-to-work law. Politifact.com rated Walker's position on right-to-work as a "major reversal of position".

Three trade unions, including the AFL-CIO, subsequently sued to get the law overturned as unconstitutional. In March 2015, the court declined the unions' request to put the law on hold until the lawsuit is settled.

WEDC

In 2011, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation was created by Walker as a quasi-public entity to replace the state's Department of Commerce with the objective of incenting job creation in Wisconsin. A 2013 report from the state's Legislative Audit Committee indicated that the organization gave some "grants, loans, and tax credits to ineligible recipients, for ineligible projects, and for amounts that exceeded specified limits". It also reported that WEDC "did not consistently perform statutorily required program oversight duties such as monitoring the contractually specified performance of award recipients". In June 2015, it was reported that under Walker, WEDC gave out $124 million between the years 2011 and 2013 without formal review. Based on the 27 awards during that period, 2,100 jobs had been created to date out of a total expected of 6,100. $62.5 million was awarded to Kohl's to create 3,000 jobs as part of a headquarters expansion but only 473 had been created, and $18 million was awarded to Kestrel Aircraft which was supposed to create 665 jobs, but only created 24. In July 2013, WEDC adopted a new policy requiring written reviews on all program awards. According to WEDC, it had approved more than 760 reviewed awards under the new policy by June 2015.

2016 Presidential campaign

Main article: Scott Walker presidential campaign, 2016 Further information: United States presidential election, 2016

In late January 2015, Walker set up a 527 organization called "Our American Revival" to "help spread his message and underwrite his activities" which The Washington Post described as helpful for building the political and fundraising networks for a run for the presidency.

In February 2015, Trip Gabriel of The New York Times described him as having "quickly vaulted into the top tier of likely candidates in the Republican presidential race". Peter Beinart of The Atlantic noted Walker's success with a conservative audience at the Iowa Freedom Summit. On April 20, at a fundraising event for the New York State Republican Party, David Koch told donors that he and his brother, who oversee one of the biggest private political organizations in the country, believed that Mr. Walker would be the Republican nominee.

Following a controversial statement by Rudy Giuliani, Walker declined to answer the question of whether he believes President Obama loves America or was a true Christian, stating that he did not know President Obama's patriotism was in doubt.

On June 18, 2015, Walker took a further step towards a presidential campaign when he established a "testing-the-waters" federal campaign committee. This allows him to raise federal campaign dollars as he explores a possible presidential run.

On July 2, it was reported and confirmed by Walker aides, "The governor is filing papers announcing his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday 'after hearing from countless Americans'" and would "officially announce his intentions in Waukesha, Wisconsin on the afternoon of July 13."

On the morning of July 13, Walker announced his candidacy via social media.

Political positions

Main article: Political positions of Scott Walker

Walker holds conservative views on fiscal and social issues, and has stated that he would run as a conservative in his pursuit of the Republican Party presidential nomination.

Political support

By the end of the recall election, Walker had a national network of conservative donors and groups supporting him. Nearly 300,000 people donated to his recall campaign, which garnered roughly $37 million. Two-thirds of the contributions came from outside Wisconsin. Walker, or the conservative causes he supports, are also supported by conservative donors and groups including Michael W. Grebe, Diane Hendricks, and the Bradley Foundation, founder of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and the MacIver Institute; and David H. Koch and Charles Koch, initial funders of Americans for Prosperity.

In March 2015, Walker received an endorsement from registered Republican actor, Scott Baio, who campaigned for Ronald Reagan in his youth and also attended the state funeral of Reagan.

Personal life

Walker and his wife Tonette have two sons, Matt and Alex. The family attends Meadowbrook Church, a nondenominational, evangelical church in Wauwatosa, which is a daughter church of Elmbrook Church, in nearby Brookfield. Tonette Walker works in the development department for the American Lung Association.

During the summers of 2004 through 2009, as Milwaukee County Executive, Walker led a motorcycle tour called the "Executive's Ride" through Wisconsin and parts of neighboring states. The ride was organized to attract people to Milwaukee County. Walker rides a 2003 Harley Davidson Road King.

In 2013, Walker published Unintimidated - A Governor's Story and A Nation's Challenge, co-written with Marc Thiessen, about his experiences, especially the recall vote and subsequent election.

Bibliography

• Walker, Scott and Thiessen, Marc (2013). Unintimidated: A Governor's Story and a Nation's Challenge. Sentinel HC. ISBN 9-781-59523-107-9.

Electoral history

Governor of Wisconsin

Wisconsin gubernatorial election, 2014
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Scott Walker	1,252,750	52.26
	Democratic	Mary Burke	1,115,943	46.59
	Republican hold

Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Scott Walker	1,334,450	53.1
	Democratic	Tom Barrett	1,162,785	46.3
	Republican hold

Wisconsin gubernatorial election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Scott Walker	1,128,941	52.29
	Democratic	Tom Barrett	1,004,303	46.52
	Republican gain from Democratic

Wisconsin Gubernatorial Election 2010 - Republican Primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Scott Walker	360,053	58.6
	Republican	Mark Neumann	237,944	38.7
	Republican	Scott Paterick	16,609	2.7

Milwaukee County Executive

Milwaukee County Executive Election 2008 Non-partisan election
Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Scott Walker (incumbent)		98,039	59%
Lena Taylor		68,785	41%

Milwaukee County Executive Election 2004 Non-partisan election
Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Scott Walker (incumbent)		136,203	57%
David Riemer		101,089	43%

Milwaukee County Executive Special Election 2002 Non-partisan election
Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Scott Walker		99,850	55%
James Ryan		81,099	45%

Wisconsin State Assembly

Wisconsin State Assembly 14th District Election 2000
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Scott Walker (incumbent)	20,268	100
	Democratic	None	0	0
	Republican hold

Wisconsin State Assembly 14th District Election 1998
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Scott Walker (incumbent)	14,110	68
	Democratic	Jim Heidenreich	6,750	32
	Republican hold

Wisconsin State Assembly 14th District Election 1996
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Scott Walker (incumbent)	15,658	62
	Democratic	Dale Dulberger	9,792	38
	Republican hold

Wisconsin State Assembly 14th District Election 1994
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Scott Walker (incumbent)	15,487	100
	Democratic	None		0
	Republican hold

Wisconsin State Assembly 14th District Special Election 1993
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Scott Walker	5,027	57
	Democratic	Christopher T. Ament	3,663	42
	Libertarian	Larry A. Boge	93	1
	Republican hold

Wisconsin State Assembly 7th District Election 1990
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gwen Moore (incumbent)	3,847	69
	Republican	Scott Walker	1,690	31
	Democratic hold

[ Source: Wikipedia ]