Thoughts on the Wisconsin Recall Vote

Last night, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker won his recall election by a larger margin than his original election in 2010. Today there will be a lot of pundits telling you exactly what this means for Wisconsin and the future of the country, but I just want to try to recap what happened and tell you my reactions.

In 2008 Democrats increased their power around the country as they rode a wave of excitement about Obama and disillusionment with Republican rule of the last few years. But they did partisan things like pass a healthcare bill that fired up Republicans, who rode their own wave two years later, recapturing the House of Representatives and winning local elections around the country. It was this 2010 wave that elected Republican Scott Walker as governor of Wisconsin and gave Republicans a majority in the state’s congress, despite Wisconsin being a rather blue state that has voted Democratic in every presidential election for the last couple of decades.

But Walker didn’t stop to ponder the Democratic overreach that had led to his election, or shift to the center to cultivate popularity in this generally liberal state. In the footsteps of Chris Christie, another recently elected Republican governor of a blue state, Walker immediately attacked the core Democratic labor unions, sharply limiting the bargaining rights of government employees.

Of course, this fired up the Democrats all over again, but far beyond the disputes in Christie’s New Jersey. Wisconsin made national news as Democratic lawmakers fled the state to avoid voting on bills they didn’t like. Excited Democrats gathered signatures and managed to trigger what was only the third recall election for a state governor in US history, arguing that Walker had severely overstepped his mandate. Several months of boisterous campaigning followed, and the dust finally settled last night.

But unlike previously recalled governors, Walker emerged with more votes and a higher margin of victory than before! The state had lots of fired up liberals, but apparently there weren’t enough of them; most of Wisconsin seemed to think Walker’s right-wing style was working well enough to let him continue. As a result, things are pretty much exactly where they were before – except that now liberals are disappointed and conservatives are really excited.

The money. Leading liberals seem to be mourning the large amounts of money that went into this race; indeed, Walker’s forces outspent challenger Tom Barrett’s forces by a large multiple somewhere between 7 and 25, depending on which statistic you read, with a lot of the money coming from out-of-state donors and Super PACs and the like. Conservatives helpfully point out that Democrats didn’t seem to care when Obama vastly outspent McCain four years ago, but I’m not sure how I feel overall about the increasing amounts of money in politics, except to admit that I don’t think there’s a realistic way to limit it. (For now I’m glad that the deep pockets tend to be more aligned with causes I support, but I also think the Internet is helping to make all that money less important anyway. Besides, if all this money influenced the race so much, why did 99% of voters vote for the same person they did two years ago?)

The unions. Pundits are saying this election proves you can take on the powerful liberal labor unions and survive. I think Republicans make unions into more of a boogieman than they are, but I do think there’s good evidence that public sector unions have extracted benefits and pensions that are way too generous and are threatening the budgets of local governments around the country. I also think taxpayers of all political stripes are beginning to realize that. The quicker we can restrain these excesses, the quicker we can limit the problem of backward government.

The nation. Pundits seem obsessed with discussing whether this is good or bad for Obama and what it means for all the other governors and unions and voters around the country. The recall certainly became a national issue, but I don’t think anyone can say what it means yet. Now that we know Scott Walker will finish his term as governor, I’m more interested in his efforts to improve the state’s budget and whether or not they work. And I don’t think any of it has anything to do with the federal government’s upcoming “fiscal cliff” involving all the tax and spending rules still set to change in 2013.

Well, that’s all I know. Scott Walker may be a little too partisan for my liking, but I think Wisconsin and the nation will be better off as he continues at the helm. But as always, only time will tell.