Here & Now

Moredcai Lee Breaks Down Walker's Speech

Mordecai Lee:

Well, this is in a policy-want heaven because it really gets into the nitty-gritty. And in fact, that's why it’s sort of anti-climatic compared to campaign events or the State of the State event. But what he’s doing here is, after getting over the crisis of the structural deficit from two years ago, what he's doing with this document is he’s putting Republican conservative ideology into state government, into policy-making. He’s drilling down, far down, so that everything reflects those values. So every little bit might be, let's say, ho-hum to people who don't follow things, but the totality of the budget reflects what Republican conservatives believe in. And with the voters selecting a one-party government, this is why it can happen.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now flipping from substance to the politics of it, does that then set him up for this national run that people talk about?

Mordecai Lee:

I think, Frederica, you’re putting your finger on it. There were almost two speeches here. One speech was to Wisconsin citizens, and he was saying I want you to have a tax cut, I want Wisconsin to create more jobs. He was sort of talking to the middle. He was talking to the moderate voter, who voted for him in 2010, and who he wanst to vote for him again two years from now, or I should say, next year. But there was a second speech there, and that was an ideological speech, and that was a speech to the Republican base nationally. You know, and he had that line about, Independence Day is not April15. And he had the line about, I don’t believe that dependency on government is a good thing. I want the number of people dependent on government to go down, not up. That was raw meat to Republican conservatives, to the base. I would imagine that this is going to be viral to that audience, and in fact, I think this is going to set him up to really run. He’s going to run for re-election. He's likely to get re-elected. He’s elbowing Paul Ryan aside, and those two lines in that speech were his campaign platform.

Frederica Freyberg:

So if those two lines are the campaign platform, what is the substance of it within the budget that sets that up? I mean, is it school vouchers or school choice, or is it income tax cuts or what?

Mordecai Lee:

Well, I think it was the package of the budget, and that’s why the individual pieces of the budget address sort of seemed ho-hum. But if you put the package together, that it’s tax cuts, it’s increase in transportation spending, which Republicans believe in, and especially the expansion of school choice, we’re shifting from the principle of public schools to the principles of publicly-funded schools. That's a very difference kind of world. So the expansion of school choice is going to be what’s going to give him cache on the national level.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, we have been talking for the last two years about trying to grow jobs and he, at one time, had this mantra of 250,000 jobs. That has gone by the wayside somewhat, but do you think this budget is a job growth budget?

Mordecai Lee:

You know, the reality is if you look at public finance, what influences the state of the economy? It’s not state government. It’s not even 50 state governments all put together. The weight of state economy on the economy is the weight of a feather. After all, if you look at these tax cuts, what is, let’s say $2, $3 a week? Is that going to stimulate the economy? Only the federal government, only the federal reserve, can really stimulate the economy. But nonetheless this reflects a Republican conservative ideology that they believe in cutting taxes whenever possible and that somehow, even if some economists don’t necessarily believe it, that there’s a link between cutting taxes and economic prosperity.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, I’m asking for your opinion here, but in your opinion, what’s the best of this budget for the citizens of Wisconsin?

Mordecai Lee:

The best of this budget is that we’re off the financial rollercoaster. We’re not engaged in deficit spending. We no longer have a structural deficit, that there is a working, good government, well-administered government. And he didn’t put a lot of talk in his address about good government, about public administration, but I think that that really is the theme. It’s sort of the normalcy. We’re back to normal.

Frederica Freyberg:

What’s the worst of it?

Mordecai Lee:

The worst of it would be if the tax cut goes too far and there’s another recession and we suddenly find ourselves back in the structural deficit.

Frederica Freyberg:

Mordecai Lee, thanks a lot.

Mordecai Lee:

Thank you, Frederica.