In Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle’s administration, the cabinet secretaries tripped over each other, hoping their departments could be allocated the largest shares of the state budget pie as possible.
The secretary of the Department of Natural Resources wanted more funds to protect the environment. The secretary of the Department of Workforce Development wanted more funds to help the unemployed and retrain displaced workers. The secretary of the Department of Health Services wanted more funds to promote public health.
The secretaries of Agriculture, Revenue, Corrections, Financial Institutions, Tourism, Revenue, Regulation and Licensing and Housing also were advocates for their respective departments.
The philosophy that government serves the greater good is part of the Democrats’ DNA. It also feeds into the perpetual expansion of government.
New Republican Governor Scott Walker’s cabinet meetings will have a fundamentally different dynamic.
New DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp’s first assignment from her boss is not to be an advocate for more state funds or find more ways in which the agency can enforce environmental laws. In fact, she’s been told to look for ways to be less of an impediment on business.
Department of Workforce Development Secretary Manuel “Manny” Perez of Milwaukee is not being asked to think of new ways to spend state funds on unemployment benefits or retraining.
In fact, most of the secretaries in the Walker administration will be asked to do less with less.
This is in accordance to Walker’s view of government’s limited role in American society and his track record as Milwaukee County executive.
In his inaugural address this week, Wisconsin’s new governor stated, “A high quality of life; however, is not the result of a bigger, ever-expanding government. As President Ronald Reagan said in his farewell address: ‘There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.'”
One of Walker’s immediate priorities is stripping away all of the regulatory functions of the Wisconsin Department of Commerce.
However, there are two state departments that are wildcards: The Department of Corrections and the Department of Transportation. Both of those departments were expanded profusely under former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson’s reign
And remember, roadbuilders donated significant funds to Walker’s election campaign.
New Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb’s first priority might be to sponge down the DOT’s web site, which still features proclamations about high-speed rail in Wisconsin (http://www.dot.state.wi.us/projects/d1/hsrail/index.htm).
“In Wisconsin, we will define our quality of life as the expansion of liberty, freedom, and economic prosperity in neighborhoods all across the state,” Walker said at his inauguration. “Our government will not only be smaller. It will be better. More responsive, more efficient, more effective.”
Walker’s critics will be watching closely on that last point about a more responsive, efficient and effective government. The case could be made that Walker’s frugality had adverse effects on the welfare of patients in the county mental health program, the safety inspections of the county’s buildings and the conditions of the county’s golf courses.
Finding the sweet spot between holding the line on taxes and governing in an effective way may be Walker’s greatest challenge.
Steve Jagler is executive editor of BizTimes Milwaukee.
