David Michael Miller
This week, Gov. Scott Walker launched his brand-new campaign platform: attacking unions. Which sounds a lot like a rehash of his old campaign platform.
This newest effort is a good reminder why Act 10 succeeded in the first place and why this effort may not succeed.
In 2011, Walker had the political equivalent of a hit song with his Act 10 proposal. Sure, lots of people hated Act 10, myself included, but a lot of people hated Gangnam Style and Call Me Maybe too.
Hit songs capture the moment, and that’s what Act 10 did. An anti-labor platform is always a hit with the donor class, but it’s usually not an issue regular voters care that much about. For example, in a poll of Wisconsin voters taken this winter, only a small percentage of respondents ranked right-to-work as a legislative priority.
Walker was able to break anti-labor out of its niche status and get a crossover hit. He played on a strong vein of resentment among many Wisconsinites who had been hurt by the economic collapse of 2008. He could point to public employees as those who hadn’t paid their “fair share.”
Walker used this faux-populist language, and Democrats allowed him to get away with it. Lame gubernatorial candidates like Tom Barrett and Mary Burke were too scared to talk about economic inequality. They provided no real alternative for populist anger. Not only did billionaires like John Menard and Diane Hendricks get off scot-free through a recession, they were actually rewarded with tax cuts.
Of course, the increased pension and health-care contributions were a smokescreen for taking away collective bargaining rights. It was smart; it allowed Republicans to reframe any dissent as financial whining, not the legitimate concern of people who didn’t want to have their workplace rights stripped away.
Act 10 was Walker’s shining moment. It was a very, very big hit. But is “our” governor a one-hit wonder?
The shadow of Act 10 and the subsequent recall is so long that it covers up the fact that the rest of his resume is a little light.
We’ve had wave after wave of right-wing legislation, but how much of that can be credited to Walker? It’s pretty easy to get bills passed when your party gerrymandered the heck out of the Legislature and you’ve got the best state supreme court money can buy. Most of the bills originated with the Legislature.
When Walker has tried to introduce legislation, like the newest policy-stuffed budget, it gets torn apart by his own party. WEDC is a mess. His office handled attempts to delete the Wisconsin Idea and gut open records in the sloppiest way possible.
On the presidential campaign trail, Walker has held up to three different positions on the same issue. He comes across as flailing and falling. The new stuff just isn’t as popular as the same old song.
Thus, Walker dropped an Act 10 remix aimed at the federal level. But Act 10’s moment has passed.
People don’t feel the same financial pain towards federal employees as they do towards the local school district. Our schools are paid for, in large part, by local property taxes. That’s a tangible bill; people see the real costs for their schools in a way they don’t see in the federal budget.
Walker doesn’t have a fiscal emergency blanket to wrap around this federal proposal. It is much easier to see this as a nakedly political attack against Democratic interests.
Seeing Walker trot out his plan to again attack unions is like watching Vanilla Ice do a nu metal remix of Ice, Ice Baby in 2015.
I’m sure there are some diehard fans who are still excited to hear Walker play his old hits. But to really recapture national interest and revive his campaign, he needs something fresh.
Walker’s playing the same song, but the listeners have moved on.
