The Good Guys Won!

Tuesday's governor recall election in the state of Wisconsin has been called the second most important election in 2012, and I do not believe this was an overstatement.

Scott Walker is the epitome of everything that people say they want in a political leader.  He took immediate action to address the state's massive $3.6 billion budget deficit which he inherited from his predecessor.  He came up with a plan to balance the state's budget without raising taxes and convinced the state legislature to pass it.  He courageously stood by his principles and did not back down, despite massive public protests and unfavorable polling. 

Walker's plan brought him into direct conflict with the state's public employee unions.  I wrote more about the corrupt influence of public employee unions on government and Walker's reasonable efforts to curb their power here and here.  Essentially, public employee unions have the power to force state employees to pay dues, which are then used to elect the unions' favored politicians (usually Democrats).  Those politicians, in turn, use their power to negotiate highly favorable contracts on behalf of those unions who funded their campaigns.  Michael Barone has memorably called public employee unions "a mechanism by which every taxpayer is forced to fund the Democratic party."  This vicious cycle explains why state and local government union employees make, on average, 45% more in total compensation than similar employees working in the private sector.  Walker took direct aim at this wasteful, corrupt system by proposing that government union employees pay a larger percentage of their health insurance and pension costs (still a much smaller percentage than most non-government employees), limiting collective bargaining rights of public unions for non-wage benefits of their members, and preventing unions from forcing state and local employees to pay dues.

It has now been well over a year since Walker's reforms took effect, and the evidence clearly shows they have worked.  He succeeded in eliminating that multi-billion dollar budget deficit without raising taxes.  In fact, the state's most recent budget showed a $154 million budget surplus!  Under Walker's responsible fiscal leadership, the state's economy has begun to create new jobs again.  By reducing the power of the teachers' unions, school districts around the state have saved millions of dollars and avoided sizable layoffs.  And membership in public employee unions declined significantly in the year following enactment (45% decline in AFSCME membership, per the Washington Post), suggesting that given the choice many people prefer not to be in a union at all.  These positive results have helped to change the opinions of Wisconsin voters.  Walker and his reforms were initially very unpopular in the state, but multiple polls leading up the recall election yesterday indicated that a clear majority of voters approved of Walker's job as governor and specifically of his collective bargaining reforms.  This explains why Walker's Democratic opponent almost completely stopped talking about the labor issue in the weeks leading up to the final recall vote.

In contrast to Walker's common sense solutions, the tactics of his pro-union opponents were radical and thuggish.  All the Democrats in the state senate left the state entirely to try to shut down the democratic process.  Protestors surrounded and occupied the state capitol building in Madison for months on end, shouting vile things and waving signs comparing Walker to Hitler.  So many physical threats were leveled against Republican legislators that many of them had to get police protection for their homes and businesses.  Huge numbers of teachers walked off their jobs for days and weeks at a time, shutting down schools and creating huge headaches for working parents.  And then there were the endless recalls.  The unions spent close to $100 million, first by turning a state supreme court election into a partisan drama by running a candidate who promised to legislate from the bench and overturn Walker's collective bargaining law passed by duly elected representatives of the people.  They then spent big bucks on a primary and special election to attempt to recall several Republican members of the state legislature, not for any corruption or crime while in office, but merely out of political disagreement.  A few months later, they got the necessary number of signatures to force another primary and another special election to attempt to recall Governor Walker, elected barely a year and a half earlier, and a few more Republican legislators.  Once again, the recalls were purely based on political disagreement.  For the entire year and a half period spanning all this political drama, the voters of Wisconsin were subjected to non-stop partisan rancor, campaigning, and get-out-the-vote efforts.  The unionists have literally torn the state apart.  No wonder that in the final recall election yesterday, nearly 70% of voters according to exit polls said that they believe recall elections should never be permitted or should only be permitted in the case of clear malfeasance or corruption in office.  Talk about an electorate sick of partisan politics!

I am thrilled about the outcome of this election because the good guys won.  And that doesn't seem to be something that happens much in politics these days.  Scott Walker took on one of the most powerful political interest groups in the state on behalf of the taxpayers, didn't back down in the face of some of the most extreme thuggery I've seen in politics, and ultimately won the fight because of his courage and persistance.  His success sends a powerful message to politicians everywhere that standing on principle doesn't have to be a political loser, and that elected officials don't have to kowtow to powerful special interests and go with what is easy and politically expedient in order to win elections.   (As further proof of this, the voters of San Jose and San Diego also approved initiatives limiting the power of public unions on Tuesday.)  It also sends a message that gutter politics and intimidation tactics do not always win the day.  There are still many people in this country that care about spending and deficits and will support a candidate of fiscal responsibility.  I hope this will embolden other politicians to challenge the public employee unions that are threatening their states with insolvency.

I stayed up late to watch Governor Scott Walker's speech on Tuesday night (delayed due to Barrett's refusal to concede until a couple of hours after the race was called by the networks).  The first words out of Walker's mouth (after an acknowledgement of the enthusiastic crowd) were these: "First, I want to thank God for His abundant grace."  I could hear the emotion in his voice as he spoke these very personal words, and also the next words as he thanked his wife and teenaged sons for their support.  I too felt surprisingly emotional as I heard these words.  Governor Walker and his family have been through hell over the past year and a half.  Wisconsin has been through hell over the past year and a half.  I am so thankful that God's grace sustained the governor, his family, and his supporters through this painful experience.  His grace apparently also enabled Walker to be incredibly gracious toward his political opponents in his speech, which was completely devoid of partisanship.  He said that he was the governor of all residents of Wisconsin and that he was going to work hard to bring the deeply fractured state back together.  When Walker mentioned Barrett's name and the crowd starting booing, Walker held up his hand for silence.  I guess I need more of God's grace because I wasn't feeling very forgiving and generous towards the union goons that have been so hateful toward Walker and his supporters.  I felt hungry for revenge.  I wanted to see Walker rub his big victory in their faces.  But deep down, I know that Walker's approach is right, both from God's perspective and from a practical standpoint.  It is rare indeed to find a politician who combines such incredible backbone with such a soft spoken, gracious attitude toward his enemies, and I hope that Walker has a political future beyond Wisconsin.