Unintimidated, by Scott Walker: on Technology


Jim Doyle: Gave up on high-speed rail line because successor opposed it

I had campaigned for governor on a promise to cancel a stimulus-funded program to build an expensive high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee. While the Obama administration was promising $810 million in federal funds for the project, we estimated that the project was going to cost Wisconsin taxpayers $110 million. We were broke and just could not afford it.

After my election, Governor Doyle canceled the project. "I could play brinksmanship with this issue and I could just plow forward and put people out at job sites," Doyle said. "We could spend or obligate hundreds of millions of dollars between now and the time I leave office. And while obviously part of me says, 'Just do that,' I really have to actually consider what the practical consequence of this are. I don't think that's in anybody's best interest."

Source: Unintimidated, by Scott Walker, p. 35-6 Nov 18, 2013

Mitch Daniels: Privatize Indiana's toll roads

Since taking office in 2005, Mitch has been a whirlwind of reform. He made tough decisions to close an $800 million deficit, pushed through controversial plans to adopt daylight savings time, and privatized Indiana's toll roads. I was particularly interested in learning some about one of his first acts as governor, when he eliminated collective bargaining for state employees.

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.

Source: Unintimidated, by Scott Walker, p. 31-2 Nov 18, 2013

Scott Walker: Opposed high-speed rail line: $810M federal but $110M state

Not only had I refused to submit a stimulus wish list, I had also campaigned for governor on a promise to cancel a stimulus-funded program to build an expensive high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee. While the Obama administration was promising $810 million in federal funds for the project, I knew that the state would be on the hook for shortfalls, as well as the annual operating subsidies once the line was complete. We estimated that the project was going to cost Wisconsin taxpayers $110 million. We were broke and just could not afford it.

After my election, Governor Doyle canceled the project. "I could play brinksmanship with this issue and I could just plow forward and put people out at job sites," Doyle said. "I don't think that's in anybody's best interest."

It was a major victory. We had saved Wisconsin taxpayers more than $100 million before even talking office.

Source: Unintimidated, by Scott Walker, p. 35-6 Nov 18, 2013

  • The above quotations are from Unintimidated:
    A Governor's Story and a Nation's Challenge
    by Scott Walker and Marc Thiessen.
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  • Click here for more quotes by Scott Walker on Technology.
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