Two days after his second and final gubernatorial debate against Democratic challenger Mary Burke, Gov. Scott Walker addressed UW-Madison students and other supporters Sunday morning during an event attended by the College Republicans at a Republican campaign office in Madison.
Walker used a series of numbers and statistics to illustrate the progress Wisconsin has made since he first took office in January 2011.
“Here are the facts,” Walker said. “We had a $3.6 billion budget deficit. The next state budget begins with a surplus of over a half a billion dollars.”
He said this $517 million cash surplus was made possible by reforms he initiated.
The governor focused his speech primarily around his concept of returning the surplus to the pockets of Wisconsin’s “hard-working taxpayers.” He explained this was being carried out through the reduction of property and income taxes and also through an idea that appealed and applied to his college-aged listeners: tuition freezes.
This marks the second consecutive year where the governor has prohibited increases in tuition for colleges within the UW System.
“For the first time ever, we’ve added tuition freeze[s] not one year, but two years in a row,” he said. “We’re going to continue that tuition freeze so more students and working families can afford college.”
Walker posed for a photograph with UW-Madison students, during which they exclaimed “tuition freeze” in lieu of the typical “say cheese” expression.
During his speech, he acknowledged the UW-Madison students present and invited the other audience members to applaud the students for their dedication to education.
Walker mentioned results from the most recent Marquette Law School Poll that projected him and Burke at a dead tie with 47 percent of likely voters each.
The governor told college students they possess the power to break the tie and be the deciding difference in the election results.
“Reach out to [someone] you’ve never talked to about politics before. Talk to fellow students,” Walker said. “Someone down the hall, in your dorm, in your apartment building or someone who lives down the block from your house. That’s what’s really going to make a difference between now and Nov. 4.”
