How national attention has changed Scott Walker

In 2014, at the longest cabinet meeting in more than four years, our Secretary of Transportation, Mark Gottlieb, shared the recommendations of a bipartisan blue ribbon committee, which clearly showed need for additional funding for transport, and clearly stated: "the road" would only result in significantly higher costs for future administrations. However, Walker has refused any increase in the tax on gasoline or vehicle registration fees. I think he was afraid of what the radio would talk about it.

Throughout 2014, Walker roamed the country and was preparing for a presidential race. He was a regular at Fox News and was courting big donors. Meanwhile, our orders were to highlight the success of each administration and take charge of special interests. Our agencies have become politicized.

Wisconsin enforces some of the country's weakest laws for small loans, such as payday loans and auto-payables. Of the states that allow payday loans, we are one of eight that have no interest rate cap. The average interest rate applied on a payday loan here is 585%, and some lenders charge up to 1,000%. However, my department did not have the ability to regulate small lenders under the Walker administration, which I attribute heavy political contributions to the governor and the Republican-controlled legislature.

When a lobbyist from the payday lending industry asked to meet me to discuss another request for regulatory relief, I pushed him back. Fifteen minutes later, the governor's office called me to ask me to consider the lobbyist's requests because he represented great supporters of the administration. It was my case, but it was another drop on the camel's back. It seemed to me that for Walker, political friends and donors came first.

Read: Scott Walker is not sorry

At the Financial Institutions Department, we have also been responsible for promoting financial literacy in the state. As such, I have worked with the Superintendent of Schools, Tony Evers, on several projects. Evers is now running for governor against Walker and, as I have said elsewhere, he has my full support.

The other people who sat in Walker's office also spoiled their former boss. Former Transportation Secretary Mark Gottleib said in September that Walker "is not telling the truth" on the Wisconsin roads, and blamed him for "taking a high risk" in terms of infrastructure. the state. In August, Ed Wall, former Secretary of Corrections, published a book titled Unethical: Life in Scott Walker's Cabinet and the Dirty Side of Politics"Unintimidated". Earlier this month, ex-Secretary of Commerce Paul Jadin resigned from his job of $ 208,000 a year in economic development to publicly share Walker's criticism, saying that Walker "systematically future on the front of the stage ". l & # 39; state. "

Walker wanted to look good in Wisconsin in his first election as governor – or at least he seems to me. But the more he was in power and the more he attracted the attention of the public, the more he focused on improving the lot of the people of his state, and improving his position with the Republican Party. In doing so, he made decisions that were bad for Wisconsin – and, if the latest polls are good – for his political aspirations.