Gov. Scott Walker promised education reform and fiscal responsibility but avoided specifics in his inaugural address Monday after taking the oath of office for a second time.
A call for smaller government became the recurring theme in Walker’s remarks, as he echoed statements made on the campaign trail and compared Wisconsin’s government to the federal government in efficiency.
“In contrast to the politicians along the Potomac, we get things done here in the Badger State,” Walker said. “There is a clear contrast between Washington and Wisconsin.”
Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, said he thinks remarks like that are meant to keep Walker nationally relevant, and that to run for president in 2016 would be to abandon Wisconsin’s citizens.
Walker promised school choice would be a priority for his office in the next legislative session.
“We will ensure every child—regardless of background or birthright—has access to a quality education,” Walker vowed. “For many, like my sons and me, it is in a traditional public school. For others, it may be in a charter, a private, a virtual or even a home school environment.”
Barca said he and other members of his party would demand fiscal and educational accountability in all schools if Republicans in the Legislature call for voucher school expansions.
Any reference to ‘Right to Work’ legislation, which has been called for by many members of his party and would drastically limit the power of all private and public sector unions in the state, was absent from Walker’s speech.
Walker said last month discussing such a measure would be a ‘distraction,’ the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
The backlash would be even larger than it was in 2011 when Walker’s limitations on collective bargaining passed the legislature if Republicans in favor of ‘Right to Work’ get their way, Barca suggested.
Whatever Democratic and Republican leaders choose to make a priority in the new legislative session, Barca said he thinks Wisconsinites want to see a bipartisan Legislature working together with a governor less polarizing than in his first term.
“That would be my finest hope,” Barca said. “That this session [Walker] would try to lead more by consensus.”
