OPINION:
June 5 is the anniversary of our recall election victory. It was the first time a governor survived such an effort. Each of the previous attempts resulted in the incumbent being removed from office. What was the key to our success? Our conservative reforms worked.
Since 2011, our reforms have saved the hardworking taxpayers of Wisconsin more than $31 billion, according to the MacIver Institute.
Prior to our efforts, government workers often paid nothing for their health insurance and nothing for their retirement. We proposed historic reforms in our Budget Repair Bill that required government workers to make a pension contribution while the government matched it. We also required public employees to pay a minimum of 12.6% for their health insurance.
To offset some of these costs, we gave public servants the freedom to choose if they wanted to be in a union or not. Those who opted not to join ended up saving a substantial amount of money by avoiding union dues.
Big government labor bosses went wild and called on their national leaders for help. Soon, hundreds and then thousands of protesters filled our state Capitol and square. Eventually, some 100,000 filled the area. The Occupy movement did not start on Wall Street; it started on my street.
The goal of the protests was intimidation. First it was just crowds, signs and banners. Along the way, there were threats against me and my family, as well as members of the state Legislature. One threat warned that I would be the first governor of Wisconsin to be assassinated if my wife did not stop me. Another said that they would gut my wife like a deer. They targeted my sons on social media and even took over the street in front of the house where my parents lived.
All of this was out of character with the people of Wisconsin. Regardless of our disagreements, we are Midwest Nice. This was clearly driven by people from outside our area.
A turning point in the battle was when protesters, dressed as zombies, interrupted a ceremony for Special Olympics athletes outside of the state Capitol building. Thankfully, I had been part of the Law Enforcement Torch Run for the Special Olympics for years and knew many of the competitors.
When the protests started, I focused on the athletes and resisted the temptation to yell at the agitators. The footage on the news that night was of angry protesters interrupting an event for the Special Olympics. This caught the attention of reasonable people in the state and gave them pause about those who so violently opposed our reforms.
Eventually, we passed the law which became Act 10. These are the reforms that have saved the hardworking taxpayers of my state more than $31 billion.
More importantly, our reforms took power away from big government union bosses and restored it to the people of Wisconsin — and those they elect to run their state and local governments. We also gave power back to public servants to choose whether they want to be in a labor union or not. This is really what set off the national movement to recall me from office.
A year before we took office, the Democrats in charge of state government in Wisconsin had to cut state funds from schools and other local governments. One teacher in the Milwaukee Public Schools that year received notice that she had been named the outstanding new English teacher for our entire state. Soon after, she was told that her school district was laying her off.
How could this be? Under the old union contracts, the last hired was the first fired. The last in was the first out. Our reforms changed all of that to restore common sense.
Today, schools and other governments can staff based on merit and pay based on performance. These changes mean they can put the best and brightest in classrooms and keep them there. Reforms like these are even more important than savings to the taxpayers.
Sadly, all that progress could be at risk of disappearing in my state. A new lawsuit has been filed seeking to overturn Act 10. Despite years of state and federal courts upholding the law, union bosses and liberal special interest groups are hoping for their efforts to elect a new justice to the Wisconsin Supreme Court will pay off with the new 4-3 liberal majority voting to void the historic reforms.
Legally, the case is weak. One of the centerpieces of their complaint is that firefighters and police officers are treated differently than other public workers under Act 10. That, however, is consistent with retirement law for government employees for many years before I took office. Under Wisconsin law, most public servants are not eligible for retirement until they reach age 55, while protective employees, which are typically those in law enforcement, fire service, corrections and the courts, are eligible for retirement by age 50.
State and federal courts have upheld the constitutionality of Act 10. Voters affirmed our conservative reforms worked when we won the recall election on June 5. It is time to move Wisconsin and America forward.
• Scott Walker is president of Young America’s Foundation and served as the 45th governor of Wisconsin.
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