With the conclusion of the 2004 presidential election, the next major decision in Wisconsin politics will occur in November 2006, when voters decide whether Gov. Jim Doyle deserves his job for another four years. This race has already garnered attention as a few key figures in Wisconsin have announced their intentions.

Last week Monday, Milwaukee County executive Scott Walker announced his candidacy for governor, becoming the first Republican to enter the race. Regardless of who else ultimately declares candidacy, Walker’s campaign will undoubtedly focus the discussion on the many important issues on which the Doyle administration stands in stark contrast to Wisconsin residents.

Only three years ago, Walker was a member of the state Legislature with relatively little name recognition. That soon changed after the Milwaukee County pension scandal discovery enraged thousands of Milwaukee County residents.

Under a deal approved by the Milwaukee County Board and former County Executive F. Thomas Ament, Ament could have retired in 2008 with an annual pension of about $186,000. In contrast, former presidents Ford, Carter, Bush and Clinton receive annual pensions of $166,700 — nearly $20,000 less! Other elected county officials also made out well. To ice the cake, the County Board approved pensions for county employees above and beyond what their union requested.

This fueled a grassroots movement to recall Ament and county supervisors involved in the scandal. Rather than face recall, Ament resigned, and Walker went on to win in a special election. Many of the county supervisors lost their recall elections.

Although the face of Milwaukee County government changed, Walker inherited many negative consequences of the pension deal. Today, Walker and Milwaukee County still have no choice but to honor many of the pension deals. Many county employees have opted for early retirement and lump-sum backdrop payments, and according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, this has already cost $75 million. Additionally, the retirement of 750 county workers last year (triple the norm) has strained the county’s ability to deliver services.

With all of these burdens, Milwaukee County may have one of the most unique budgetary situations in the entire state of Wisconsin. The many financial obligations lingering from the pension scandal make the budget very difficult to balance without increasing the property-tax levy or cutting vital services. However, for three consecutive years, Walker constructed a budget that did exactly that.

Given Walker’s history of fiscal responsibility even with all the constraints he faced, he has the credibility needed to campaign on the important issues of tax relief and budget management. In contrast, Doyle has completely ignored the plight of taxpayers, vetoing a freeze in property taxes and actively working against the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. While these proposals would serve to greatly benefit Wisconsin taxpayers and give them more control over their own money, they hurt WEAC (the state teachers’ union) and other special-interest groups to whom Doyle owes favors.

Richard Chandler of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution, released a report last year entitled “Limiting Government Spending in Wisconsin.” The executive summary of this report states, “There is a significant mismatch between the level of state and local spending in Wisconsin and the ability of the state’s citizens to pay for government spending. In 2002, total state and local government spending in Wisconsin was 7.7 percent above the national average … Wisconsin’s income level was 2.8 percent below the national average.”

The summary continues, “High tax levels hurt economic growth and job creation in Wisconsin. The overall tax level and the individual income and property tax levels are important to businesses when they make decisions about where to locate and expand, and are also important to individuals when they make decisions about where to seek career opportunities.”

As students, few of us directly pay property taxes, but that does not mean we avoid their costs. Property owners pass down the taxes through higher rent. More importantly, as noted in the report, Wisconsin’s excessive levels of taxation drive away business and, hence, career opportunities for those graduating. We often evaluate governors based on their willingness to fund higher education, but we should also consider a governor’s seriousness in addressing taxation — an issue far more salient in the long-term future.

Whether or not he wins the nomination, Walker’s impressive resume of fiscal responsibility and the issues he has already raised will put the focus of the gubernatorial election where it belongs — the state taxpayers and their interests.

Mark A. Baumgardner ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in electrical engineering.