In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is facing a recall election in June, says if he could do things over again, he’d “probably spend more time last January and February making the case for why we needed the change.”
Walker’s push to balance the state budget led to a bill that angered unions because it took away some of their power and cut benefits for some union workers.
The Brody File spoke with Gov. Walker at his executive residence in Madison, Wis., this past Sunday afternoon for about an hour. We are releasing a few of the video clips from the interview. More will be released on "The Brody File Show" later this week and a full story will air on "The 700 Club" in the next couple weeks.
Mandatory Courtesy: CBN News/The Brody File.
Watch his comments below with the full transcription.
David Brody:To take a step back to what you have done here in Wisconsin and the uproar that is has received if this is a new wave of what other governors need to look toward in the future.
Gov. Scott Walker: Well, that’s why I think this battle is not just about me and whether I'm the governor or not. I think this is a much larger play for those outside interests.
For me, it was just about fixing it. I came in last year kind of like a small business owner, and said here’s a problem, here’s a solution, now just get out and fix it. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably spend more time last January and February making the case for why we needed the change.
Good example: for years school districts in our state overwhelmingly had to buy their health insurance from essentially just one company. A company that just so happened to be affiliated with the teachers union. We changed all of that. Now they can bid it out, and they've saved tens of millions of dollars. If I had made that case up front, I think people would have gone, 'Hey governor, you need to fix that.' But instead, I fixed it, and then I made my case.
I've learned from that and education reform, some other things we've been working on the past year, we've done a better job of making the case up front, bringing people to solve the solution, and then acting on it. But I guess if I had to be accused of one thing or another, I’d rather be accused of fixing something first, and then explaining it, as opposed to explaining and not fixing it at all.
The message to the governors is I think clearly they want to defeat me, take me out on June 5, so that no other governor, not just Republican but there's a number of discerning Democrats who understand these issues have to be dealt with as well, and not just the governors around the country.
And I think the unions understand that when we prevail, it will send a powerful message across this country that you can take on the tough issues, you can do what people have argued should be done for years, which is get our fiscal house in order, and you'll be sustained, and they don't want that.
They want people to live in fear of challenging any of these status quo items again in the future.