Gov. Scott Walker’s first budget is a spending plan that seems to uniformly favor Republican pets such as school vouchers, transportation and tax cuts while targeting nearly every Democratic sacred cow. Walker?s proposal, aimed at eliminating the state?s $3.6 billion shortfall, would cut more than $1 billion from education, knock more than 50,000 people off BadgerCare, roll back recycling and water purity requirements, and cut aid to the poor. Supporters say it is the first honest budget in a generation, since any real reform requires serious cuts to entitlements and education. Critics say Walker is turning Wisconsin into a laboratory for the GOP.Mark Bugher, director of University Research Park and a former administration secretary under Thompson, said the governor has rightly targeted the ?Big Five? of state budgeting: schools, Medicaid, local aid, corrections and the University of Wisconsin System. ?If you want to reform things, you start there,? he said.
Office of Strategic Communication