I am honored to announce that I am joining Scott Walker’s team as his Virginia Campaign Chairman. After eight years with Barack Obama in the White House, the American economy is stagnant and burdensome regulations are crippling small businesses. The Obama-Clinton foreign policy doctrine has left our friends to fend for themselves, our enemies unchecked, and the world a more dangerous place. We simply can’t afford eight more years of irresponsible liberal leadership.
Instead, America needs conservative leadership. Scott Walker is a reform-minded leader with the executive experience to allow him to transform the way Washington works. By winning three elections in four years without compromising his conservative principles in a state that hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan, I am confident that Scott Walker can defeat Hillary Clinton or whoever else the Democrats put up in 2016. What makes me so sure? His record.
Governor Walker inherited a $3.6 billion deficit when he took office in 2011 and quickly turned it into a surplus. But it’s what he did with that surplus that really impressed me. Since assuming office, Governor Walker and Republican leaders have cut taxes by nearly $2 billion, including over $500 million in 2014 alone. In Washington, politicians see budget deficits as an excuse to raise taxes on the middle class. Governor Walker on the other hand has grown the economy, added more than 35,000 new businesses in four years, and cut taxes—returning money back to the taxpayers where it belongs.
Scott Walker has accomplished these things despite relentless opposition from big labor. In 2011, Governor Walker immediately took on the powerful labor unions in an attempt to return power back to the working class. No longer can union bosses forcibly withhold dues from workers’ paychecks. Instead, union membership is now optional—the way it should be.
Despite months of marches and occupation of the capitol grounds with more than 100,000 protesters, organized efforts by national union bosses and liberal activists across the nation, and millions of dollars spent to vilify him and his efforts,Governor Walker won this fight. He did it with a smile on his face, rallying support from across the country, and forging a broad coalition of Wisconsinites who admired his courage and understood the common sense principles undergirding his policies. He refused to give in to the demands of big labor.
On education, Governor Walker has fought for school choice—expanding the nation’s first school voucher system, increasing the number of charter schools, and removing the requirements for tenure and seniority. These reforms are working, improving the quality of public and private schools in the state where graduation rates have increased, test scores are higher, and the best and brightest teachers are remaining in the classroom. Like me, Walker believes that all children should have access to a quality education, regardless of their zip code. It’s this kind of mentality we need in the White House, not more of the failed, one-size-fits-all approach pushed by bureaucrats in Washington.
Whether it’s growing Wisconsin’s economy, fighting for the working class, or reforming education, Scott Walker has a consistent, proven record of success. America needs bold leadership to get us back on track, and I’m excited to help spread his message of conservative reform. It is a message that resonates not only with Republicans, but also with independents and conservative Democrats, and that’s a message and a coalition that will get him elected as our next president. I hope you’ll join me in this fight!
Mark Obenshain is a member of the Virginia State Senate.
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