Mitch Daniels in Unintimidated, by Scott Walker

On Education: Created largest low-income school choice program in US

Just look at what some of our nation's Republican reformers have accomplished at the state level. In Louisiana, Governor Bobby Jindal enacted comprehensive ethics reform-- while at the same time closing a $341 million budget shortfall and giving $1.1 billion back to the hardworking taxpayers across his state over 5 years.

In Indiana, Governor Mitch Daniels inherited a 2-year deficit of $800 million, and left Indiana with a $500 million annual surplus and $2 billion in reserves, without raising taxes. He ended collective bargaining for state employees, privatized Indiana's toll roads, and created the largest school choice program for low-income students in the country.

On Jobs: Got rid of collective bargaining for state employees

Mitch told me his reform had been a huge success. Eliminating collective bargaining saved taxpayers buckets of money, he said, but those savings were only the secondary benefit. The primary benefit was the flexibility to make state government perform better.

None of the hundreds of operational reforms he enacted during his 2 terms in office--from consolidating state agencies to privatizing toll roads--would have been possible if he had been required to put each decision through excruciating negotiations and compromises with the unions. Getting rid of collective bargaining freed him to act--to downsize government offices, shift workers from one job to another, and to make dysfunctional agencies functional again.

On Jobs: Make union membership optional for government employees

They were right. Once the WI supreme court upheld Act 10, and the paycheck protection provision went into effect, many public workers did in fact decide to keep the money. In August 2011 "the statewide teachers union issued layoff notices to 42 employees, about 40% of its staff."

In March 2011, when we passed our reforms, membership in AFSCME stood at 62,818. A year later, membership had fallen by more than half to 28,745. It was exactly as Mitch Daniels had predicted.

On Technology: Privatize Indiana's toll roads

None of the hundreds of operational reforms he enacted during his 2 terms in office--from consolidating state agencies to privatizing toll roads--would have been possible if he had been required to put each decision through excruciating negotiations and compromises with the unions. Getting rid of collective bargaining freed him to act--to downsize government offices, shift workers from one job to another, and to make dysfunctional agencies functional again.