Meeting Scott Walker

I got to meet Wisconsin Governor, now former candidate for president, Scott Walker at a place I worked.
Actually I got to talk to him more than anyone else at my work. People thought I was dumb to wear a badger tie, however the gov saw it first thing and came over and told me how one of his sons goes to Marquette and one to UW and then showed me the hand sign for "W" and "M" that he says his sons flash at each other in the spirit of the rival schools. I mentioned I went to Whitewater and we talked about the football championships they won.

He then talked to my clients and came back to me and asked if the students I worked with have a real chance to succeed, what jobs they could get, what was holding them back, and what did I hear from clients that would make them hire more people.

I told him the biggest thing I hear from the thousands of companies I've talked to over the last few years is the biggest block to hiring is uncertainty. All companies have plans in place to do business no matter what person/party is in power. What they have all told me is they don't like not knowing who is in power. The recall elections pissed them off (owners of both parties FYI) because they had a plan to deal with Walker taking office. Then they had to wait until the recall election of everyone.

Then there are the laws going through the court systems. One judge declares a law legal/illegal then it is upheld/overturned by various courts then there is state court then federal court. It caused confusion and delay and employers just decided to wait it out and only hire essential people.

I went on to tell him the high cost of tuition and the high student loan payments were drags on income people could put into the economy.

Policies that let non-resident students, illegal aliens get either in state tuition to the detriment of local students not being able to enroll in WI colleges was also contributing to the brain drain and the lack of younger workers staying in WI. If they can't get into a WI school why stay in WI?  Both the tuition and being shut out of school issues are contributing to some not being able to get the skills and training they needed to advance in the workforce.

I also told him how many of the companies I work with are ready and willing to hire, assuming all the confusion over elections and laws is over, but some want or need streamlining of the bureaucratic red tape. Not the dropping of regulations or laws, but just clarity over how they are supposed to work. gave an example of the small business owner who had his business since 1979 and passed all health and safety inspections every year, but was now facing a $5,000 bill because an inspector said there is a statute that says all exit/entrance doors have to have an electric door sensor that opens the door when the power is out. Think about it. The business is open so the door is unlocked. If the power goes out the door is still unlocked and the electric door senor doesn't work anyways so why install it? That kind of government stupidity is not what small businesses need to to pay for. And every time a business has to pay for dumb things like that it means they can't hire someone.

 I also told him I appreciated him running on issues and his record and said I was sick of all the "too extreme/too liberal" ads and he should only run on his record and issues. 

One thing that was cool was he stayed and met with everyone that wanted a picture, handshake, or make a comment or had a question no matter what slant it was from and that it went past his scheduled time. As a public official I thought that was good as other officials I met take off as fast as they can.     

Thanks Governor for listening and for taking the time to treat me as a real person and not just a voter!
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy