Badger InstituteBadger Institute
  • Home
  • Issues
    • Taxes
    • Education
    • Crime & Justice
    • Spending & Accountability
    • Economy & Infrastructure
    • Licensing
    • Healthcare
    • Civil Society
  • Mandate for Madison
  • Research
  • Magazines
    • Diggings
    • Wisconsin Interest
  • Events
  • Media
    • Podcast
    • Fact Sheets
    • Viewpoints
    • Press Releases
    • Badger in the News
    • Video
    • Audio
    • Testimony
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Board of Directors
    • Team
    • Visiting Fellows
    • America’s Future
    • Careers
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Contact Us

Subscribe for Updates

Get the latest news and updates from Badger Institute.

What's New

Wisconsin lawmakers in the dark on broadband

March 16, 2023

The underfunded part of Wisconsin public schooling

March 16, 2023

If we don’t pay for roads, we don’t get mobility

March 9, 2023
Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn Instagram
TRENDING:
  • Wisconsin lawmakers in the dark on broadband
  • The underfunded part of Wisconsin public schooling
  • If we don’t pay for roads, we don’t get mobility
  • Assembly Speaker calls for tolling to fund Wisconsin infrastructure
  • Foreseeing the Future of Wisconsin’s Flat Tax
  • Amid illiteracy, where was the urgency?
  • Calls to Police from MPS High Schools Up Dramatically Again
  • Wisconsin voters will be asked about welfare work requirements
  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Contact
Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn Instagram
Badger InstituteBadger Institute
SUPPORT OUR MISSION
  • Issues
    • Taxes
    • Education
    • Crime & Justice
    • Spending & Accountability
    • Economy & Infrastructure
    • Licensing
    • Healthcare
    • Civil Society
  • Mandate for Madison
  • Research
  • Magazines
    • Diggings
    • Wisconsin Interest
  • Events
  • Media
    • Podcast
    • Fact Sheets
    • Viewpoints
    • Press Releases
    • Badger in the News
    • Video
    • Audio
    • Testimony
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Board of Directors
    • Team
    • Visiting Fellows
    • America’s Future
    • Careers
Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
DONATE
Badger InstituteBadger Institute
Home » Act 10 is 10
Act 10

Act 10 is 10

By Johnny KampisOctober 15, 2021
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest

The former governor reflects and responds to his critics 

This is the 10th anniversary year of Act 10, the bill that will forever define Scott Walker. And his opponents. The impact of the legislation 10 years later is enormous when measured in savings to taxpayers alone: $13 billion saved by state and local governments, according to the MacIver Institute.  

Brett Healy, MacIver president, calls Act 10 “the most successful public policy proposal in the state’s history.”  

Media took sides  

The anniversary stories that began pouring out of legacy media outlets in February and March mostly reflected, somberly, on the view of those revulsed by, rather than grateful for, Act 10. These looks back reflected the views of much of the media itself toward Walker and his bill, indulging as they were to those who used former Gov. Walker’s name interchangeably with “dictator” and “fascist.”  

At the time, John Gurda, a lefty Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist, felt free to shed any guise of objectivity and essentially campaigned for Walker’s recall. “He (Walker) threw the first punch, and the second, and the fifth; everyone else simply reacted,” Gurda wrote. “Describing himself as ‘unintimidated’ is like praising the playground bully for his courage.”  

Mike Konopacki, who describes himself as a “labor cartoonist” in Madison, recalled with pride being one of the first to publicly compare Walker to Adolf Hitler. 

To its credit, The New York Times, long a biased Walker antagonist, gave the former governor, now president of the nonprofit Young America’s Foundation, a chance in August to offer his opinion of what Act 10 meant to Wisconsin.  

“The true test of our reforms is that they are still working — a decade after we enacted them,” Walker wrote. “If common-sense conservative ideas can work in a blue state like Wisconsin, they can work anywhere.”  

The Badger Institute offered him the same opportunity in early September, having been a chronicler of Act 10 as a proponent of free and not unionized markets.  

Act 10 mandated that many public-sector employees would have to pay a portion of their pensions and health insurance premiums. It also allowed school district and local government officials to make staffing decisions based on merit, not seniority.  

A major power shift  

Eliminating collective bargaining, Walker told us, took back the political power of “unelected union bureaucrats” to dictate how taxpayer resources would be used and gave it back to taxpayers and their elected representatives at the state and local level.  

Unions, he says, were more concerned about protecting the pensions of the old membership than in the future benefits for new members. “They weren’t fighting for the little guy. They were fighting for themselves.” 

Among the proudest accomplishments in Act 10, Walker told us, was the fight for schoolchildren. Act 10 was about a lot more than money. It made teaching a meritocracy again, he says. “They can put the best and the brightest in the classrooms and keep them there.” 

Vehement pushback  

Threatened with the potential loss of millions of dollars in union dues, public union leaders with the backing of national union organizations unleashed ugly protests – invariably referred to as peaceful and orderly in the press – that went on for months and triggered the recall effort. The attacks on the governor were visceral and felt personal.  

Walker told the Badger Institute he “knew there would be pushback, but we never expected it to be as intense as it was.” 

“The union pushback was like nothing we had ever seen before in Wisconsin,” Healy told the Badger Institute. “The behavior we saw at the Capitol and even representatives’ residences crossed the line. I think it jarred regular Wisconsinites awake. They felt like we couldn’t let Big Labor act like that and win.” 

A review by the Institute for Reforming Government says that 10 years after “Wisconsin’s policy changes, including those made within Act 10, continue to be something that other states should review when analyzing how to address an economic and fiscal crisis.” 

Johnny Kampis is a freelance writer who has been published on Fox News, in The New York Times and Time and serves on the Federal Communications Commission’s consumer advisory committee. Permission to reprint is granted as long as the author and Badger Institute are properly cited.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Telegram Email
Johnny Kampis

Related Posts

The underfunded part of Wisconsin public schooling

March 16, 2023

Assembly Speaker calls for tolling to fund Wisconsin infrastructure

March 2, 2023

Amid illiteracy, where was the urgency?

February 23, 2023
Categories
Top Posts

Local pols filling old budget holes with massive COVID aid

December 8, 20221,447

This is not four years ago

November 10, 20221,283

A state without convictions

January 12, 2023643

Billions in federal spending in Wisconsin unaudited; results never measured

November 9, 2022484
Archives

Sign Up for Top Picks

Our weekly e-Newsletter with the latest items and updates

Connect with Badger Institute
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
About Us
About Us

The Badger Institute is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit institute established in 1987 working to engage and energize Wisconsinites and others in discussions and timely action on key public policy issues critical to the state’s future, growth and prosperity.

Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn

Sign Up for Top Picks

Our weekly e-Newsletter with the latest items and updates

What’s New

Wisconsin lawmakers in the dark on broadband

March 16, 2023

The underfunded part of Wisconsin public schooling

March 16, 2023

If we don’t pay for roads, we don’t get mobility

March 9, 2023

Assembly Speaker calls for tolling to fund Wisconsin infrastructure

March 2, 2023
© 2023 Badger Institute | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Sitemap

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience.

Privacy settings

Privacy Settings

This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience. Which cookies and scripts are used and how they impact your visit is specified on the left. You may change your settings at any time. Your choices will not impact your visit.

NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using.

CRM Software

Customer Relationship Management Software

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Google uses the data collected to track and monitor the use of our Service. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.

You can opt-out of having made your activity on the Service available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, and dc.js) from sharing information with Google Analytics about visits activity.

For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en

Powered by Cookie Information