Debate between Governor Scott walker and his democratic challenger mary burke. The first of two scheduled debates between the candidates. The political reports currently that the place as a tossup. If artest comes courtesy of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association foundation. Wisconsin Broadcasters Association foundation 2014 four debate gube rnatorial debate. Anything. On saturdays have you been feeling Republican Arizona in a major wisconsin campaigns. His hair, the association is two statewide face anything right and require. This is made possible in part because of generous grants from the Wisconsin Association of independent colleges and universities. I would like to introduce the moderator for the debate, a longtime wisconsin broadcaster and member of the hall of fame, joe. Jill. We encourage the candidates to share specifics about how they plan to govern. This is the format. Each candidate will present a twominute opening statement. The order was chosen by coin flip. After that we turn to the panel for questions. Every candidate will have one minute and 30 seconds to respond followed by 32nd rebuttals. 30 secondternate rebuttals. We will alternate the order. I encourage you to provide responses that are detailed and stay on topic. If you change the subject, we may restate the question and give you an additional 30 seconds for a focused reply. I also asked you to be faithful to the time limit you agreed to. A countdown clock visible to both of you, and i will respectfully remind you if you exceed your time. Should you persist i do not think you well i would invoke the state motto by saying it is time to go forward, and your microphone will go silent. We will conclude with threeminute statements from each candidate. Finally, there is a balanced audience of invited guests tonight, and they have promised to hold applause until the end of the broadcast. We will begin with opening statements, and by coin flip, we begin with ms. Burke. Thank you to the broadcast association and everyone viewing tonight. I am running for governor to focus on what works for you and your family. I am a fourthgeneration wisconsinite. My grandpa george was a mailman used to deliver the mail to the house i live in today. Every day i am reminded of my Wisconsin Roots in the values i was brought up on. One of those i use is that everyone deserves a fair shot to get ahead if they are willing to put in the hard work. Unfortunately, that opportunity is getting out of reach for too many. Walkerars ago, governor promised us jobs. Were not even close. We are dead last in the midwest in terms of job creation. His approach is not working. The typical wisconsin family has seen real income drop nearly 3000 in the last four years. 3000. Governor walker cut taxes for those on the top while raising them for working families and making the biggest cuts to education in the country. As a businessperson who opt create good paying jobs in wisconsin, i know how to do this. First, we will invest in education, not cut it. The tax breaks for the wealthy and focus on Small Businesses. Third, reduce the cost of college. The economy is not better until it is better for you, and we can do better. A lot better. Wisconsin has everything that it takes, but we have to focus, bring people together, and use the best ideas. It is time for a new approach and new leadership, and tonight, i look forward to sharing my plans with everyone. Thank you. Governor walker . Thank you to the Broadcasters Association and the moderator and panelists. Thank you to my opponent for joining us. All ofnk thanks to you, it is great to be back in eau claire. All the home for turning in for what i hope is an honest discussion about the future of the great state. I love wisconsin. But in 2010, when i was traveling the state, Software Stand the effect of losing 130 ,000 jobs. Michael, who, after 20 years working as a press operator, and it up seeing his company downsize them out of a job. These are real people with real families and communities all across the state. I decided then and there that i would aim high, set a big goal of 250,000 jobs. We have come a long way, but we are not done yet. Losing 100 30,000 jobs to gaining more than 100,000 jobs since. We rank third in the midwest for privatesector job creation from july of last year to july of this year. Fourth from august to august. Rate is thement lowest it has been since october 2 008. My opponent will try and use old and outdated data to criticize the comeback. The wisconsin, sentinel said that these attacks are false. Facts, i will focus on the fax from our website. We have a comprehensive plan, and i will show that plan tonight and in the days to come. I look forward to a real discussion about the future of this great state. Will begin the questions now. I will begin with shawn johnson. Covered a state politics for public radio for a decade. As we see here tonight, because of a 63 decision from the Supreme Court, wisconsin will not implement voter id for the november election. First, our voters better off or worse off because of the ruling. Second, they are exploitin exploring efforts to institute that again. Do you support the attorney generals efforts . I think what is important is that every eligible voter in wisconsin has the chance to vote. I think the Supreme Court made the right decision, because i heard stories from so many people about the difficulties that they were facing in being able to cast their vote. A woman, living in senior housing. She did not get her drivers license renewed, because she did not drive. She was faced with how she would get to the dmv and find the paperwork. Part ofit is a democracy here in wisconsin and across the u. S. That people are able to vote. In terms of the attorney general pursuing the voter id, i am concerned that people that we are putting roadblocks in front of the ability to vote. The federal judge had indicated that there are 300,000 people in wisconsin that could be hurt by this law. While it seems like a reasonable requirement, when you talk to folks about the hurdles that that places in their lives in order to get back, i am concerned that we are not doing get that, i am concerned that we are not doing the right thing and shutting down peoples voices. The law of the state of wisconsin is simple. It is easy to vote and hard to cheat. This is a common sense reform. I was out of town hall meeting in appleton, and took questions from the crowd, and i was asked how many cases of fraud there have been. I said, does not matter if it was one or a hundred or a thousand. Who was that one person who would want to have their vote canceled out by a vote canceled illegally . We used that in 2012, it worked well. There were no problems reported. The problem is going back and forth in the courts, and that is the problem with the Supreme Court decision. Not the attorney general has the ability to move forward, i have not talked to him directly. Certainly we will abide by what the court say. Rebuttal . To hear shocking to me that the governor would say that he does not care if there was only one instance in fraud, and would put these roadblocks in front of 300,000 people would find it difficult to get the id , even though there are no identified cases of fraud and it could cost millions and millions of dollars to implement. That is just not common sense and is not what i would do as governor. In 2008, the Milwaukee Police department issued a report on the fraud they saw alone in 2004. There is more than just one case, there are many cases. Again, i go back and say that this is common sense reform, it has been in place or three years. We offered free id for people who do not have access to a drivers license upon request. Since the wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the law, we offered a process where they could get access to documentation. We are invoking our effort to press for specifics. What about the plan to reinstate the lot with less than a month ago for the election . It, he haserstand stated that, but we have not seen a specific plan. I think it will ultimately be upheld, but i would rather spend the time in the debate talking about creating jobs in building a better economy. Improving our schools and advancing the state. Yes, i do not believe that we should pursue that unless we are assured that those 300,000 people who are facing roadblocks in terms of casting their eligible vote, that we have the proper processes in place with the state to assure us that that is not a hurdle that they face. To the next question, for mike thompson, and ancho an anchor. I want to begin with jobs, because it is arguably the most important issue in this election. I think you would both agree that we are not where we want to be with employment in the state. You both,tion to specifically, what is one thing that you will do to create jobs or bring more jobs to the state that has not been done before . That may declare has not been done before . Governor walker . We will build off the successes we have had over the past year. You look from july through july, third in the midwest for privatesector job creations. If you look at the updated figures for a month after, august, fourth. Either way, we are in the top five. We are seeing things gel. Manpower report that shows the projection is twice as big as it was a year ago in terms of employers looking to grow in the state of wisconsin. We want to go forward with things that were cannot go backwards. 130,000 because of the jobs that we lost, but when my opponent was in congress. And 42nd and job creation, the Unemployment Rate was worst in the nation. That was during the three years that my opponent worked as the head of congress. We do not want to go backwards, we want to go ford. The and employment is the lowest it has been since october of 2008. I want to build on success, put money in the hands of Small Business owners and help build from the bottom up. Not the top down approach. The fact is, the economy is not growing at the rate that it needs to grow. 50sconsin economy wisconsin economy had cap taste with the rest of the nation, it would be 4 billion a year bigger. That is money that could be spent on our businesses and education. It is a tax rate to grow the economy, infrastructure, education, while reducing taxes. We need to do something different. The one thing you said what i would specifically do that was not done before, i would reduce the cost of college. My jobs plan shows that we have to have a six and at 70,000 more degree holders for wisconsin to compete for jobs in 2025. 670,000 more degree holders. We have to increase capacity and reduce costs. Under Governor Walker we have seen comes to Technical Colleges in Higher Education which has on the waitpeople list for Financial Aid for tech colleges and universities. I will prioritizes and the state budget and reduce the cost of Higher Education. Technical colleges and universities. Rebuttal . If you look at the rate when inopponent grew worked congress, we would have half as many jobs. I do not want to go back to that, i want to build off of that. You can read my 62 page plan that talks about the things that my opponent has talked about that we have been doing. Investments in Higher Education, investments in a Technical Colleges, investments in workforce programs. Week, the journal sentinel said that the governors plan is more of the same. I do not think we should double down on the strategy that has not worked for four years. We hadrds my record, 50,000 more jobs and we have currently and the employment rate was 4. 8 . I got 70 million out of ecommerce budget. Out of ecommerce budget. The commerce budget. Good evening, everyone. Issues on the Eau Claire County ballot next month is the statement on wage. The minimum wage is 7. 25 an hour. For some money working full time that is 15,000 a year. A complaint was filed under the living wage law recently, saying that 7. 25 is not enough to live on, and they rejected that. Please tell us if you believe a wisconsin worker can live on our minimum wage . If you believe the state has any obligation to make sure that workers are paid some sort of minimum wage . And if so, what that wage should be . Do not think that our minimum wages enough for folks who live on. That is why i strongly support an increase in the minimum wage to the suggested 10. 10 an hour over three steps. I have talked of business people, both small and large. They support increasing this. The reason is, first of all, it reduces reliance on government assistance. I want people who work fulltime to have the pride of a job and being able to support themselves. At 7. 25 an hour, that is ridiculous, you cannot do that. It ensures that people are dependent on government assistance. The second reason to do that, that is money that gets spent right back into the economy, which helps local Small Businesses and our communities grow. Culver,person craig cobras restaurants, we are proud of that, he supports increasing the minimum wage. That is the smart thing to do, it will help the economy and reduce government assistance. Governor walker . In august i met a wonderful 25yearold woman who had gone back to school to be a welder. She told me that her daughter who was four weeks old would go to kindergarten for the first time. She told me that the reason she was able to be there was because of the investments that we made over the summer to buy down the wait list for programs like welding, i. T. , health care, and other areas. Those are targeted areas that we need not just there but all across wisconsin. We have invested more than 100 million the last year alone in workforce development. The reason that i bring that up is because our plan for the future is based on a concept that we call learn more to earn more. Wage raise wages but we need to do that by giving skills to making them more valuable. We do it through high schools, Technical Colleges, apprenticeships. I want jobs that pay two or three times the minimum wage. Earlier today, i broke ground for a new headquarters down in stevens point. Not only did they make that Capital Investment in the state of wisconsin, they retain the highquality jobs that they have. They will add 510 new jobs that, on average, have salaries work about 20 an hour worth about 20 an hour. In middleton, we created 55 new jobs that pay 30 or more in our. An hour. Governor walker, time. Is, Governor Walker made cuts to our Technical College system, taking them back in his first budget to 1989 funding levels. To put additional money into grants now does not help the 41,000 people who are on the Financial Aid waitlist while giving tax rates to those in the top. It is unrealistic to think that all of the workers who work in retail, home health care, that are paid the minimum wage, are going to be able to shift to welding jobs. That is not realistic, there are not that many jobs out there. We have to raise the minimum wage immediately. Governor walker . There is a website that the state has. There are 70,000 job openings on their. We do not have a jobs problem, we have a work problem. We have to connect the dots between people looking for a better job in the skills they need. It is not just welding and advanced manufacturing, it is i. T. , we talked about that nietzsche blog valley. In the chippewa valley. Keith, i believe you asked a specific question about the actual minimum wage. Governor walker, i need you to answer, do you believe that a worker can live on the minimum wage . Do you believe that there should be some sort of a minimum wage . My point is, i think the state should be focused on creating jobs that are greater than the minimum wage. Worked for wage i mcdonalds when i was a kid. I used the to save up for college, i did not expect that to be my lifetime work. At the same time, we need to make sure that people who are living off the to support themselves and their families have jobs that pay far greater than that. The way that you do that is not by an arbitrary level of a state. You do limit by the state. As first Technical Colleges go, the reality is that we saved time is up. Miss burke, your rebuttal. I have already rebuttal be minimum wage. The minimum wage. When we asked a followup, we give everyone a question to respond. People not think that can live on the minimum wage. That is why i support raising the minimum wage, the money will be spent in the local economy and will create more jobs. I want to be clear about this, as governor, i want to reduce peoples need for public assistance. That is what the minimum wage does. To an anchor. There are dueling Television Ads airing this week focusing on the governors position on abortion. Governor walker, you are on record as opposing all abortion without exception. Position, andyour why or why not . First of all, reasonable people can obviously disagree on this issue. I am prolife but i can only imagine how difficult it is for someone in going through the difficult decision to determine whether they will end the pregnancy or not. That is why i supported legislation that would increase safety and provide more information to a woman considering her options. That bill leaves the final decision to a woman and her doctor. To the specific request the u. S. Made, that issue has been resolved, that was decided by the Supreme Court 40 years ago. The larger issue, but seeking to protect the health and safety of every wisconsin citizen, does. Believe it should be up to a woman, according to her religious belief and in consultation with her family and dr. , to make that decision on her own. When Governor Walker talks about making these decisions and passing this legislation that stands in the way of women being able to make their own health politicians, making in at madison that the deciders on this, it gets ridiculous. , twodoor, safety when cuts have resulted in the closing of five clinics that health care such as cancer screenings, birth control, and Family Planning services, along with mandating invasive procedures that are against a womans right to choose. Able towomen should be make these choices for themselves. Governor walker, rebuttal . In terms of funding, for example, the Winnebago County health department, we moved up clinics that were respected in their communities. We increased funding for the university of wisconsin to help not only uw but affiliates across the state. We have added 50 million more to help victims of Domestic Violence and child abuse. We have done more to help victims of other issues across the state. We have added to that, and the last budget in particular. In the last budget in particular. Governor walker is trying to have it both ways, he talks about health and safety as if it was reasonable, but his position is anything but reasonable. He believes that, even in cases of rape in and says, that is not a womans choice, and that is politicians deciding that for him. That is wrong. Question. Ohnson, next s voters electing the november, do you promise to serve your whole fouryear term . This question goes first to miss burke. It will not take me 90 seconds to answer. Absolutely. Being governorto not just for four years, but the longestserving governor in the state of wisconsin. There is no greater job in the entire world for me. I look forward to doing that and i hope the people of wisconsin will have me. My plan is that if the people elect me is to be here for four years. I have had to work pretty hard three times in the past 12 years to run for governor. Response . Beingook forward to governor of his great saint and i get more excited every day i am on the campaign trail. This week and i get more excited every day im on the campaign trail. Because of the people of wisconsin to test their because of the people of wisconsin who are so committed to their own communities. Termsalways running for there is an estimate that turning down medicaid will cost wisconsin. Estimates show that 27,000 people are lacking Health Insurance after losing coverage and told to transition to the marketplace earlier this year. Governor walker, would anything make you reconsider your decision to turn down the federal funds and to defer your decision in regards to the federal funds question what funds . That in termsbout of obamacare, i think it has failed to live up to promises. I would like to repeal it and put Health Care Decisions in the hands of patients. That is the difference between my opponent and i read i want to expand she wants to expand and i want to put it back in your hands. We did something unique, we did a wisconsinspecific option. We were able to draw down the waiting list that was under governor jim doyle. Everyone living in poverty has access to health care through medicaid. We help people above poverty transition to market. My upon it will ask you to depend on the federal government opponent will ask you to depend on the federal government that cannot even deal with trillions of dollars of debt. The congress and a president that have failed to meet their commitment to medicaid. Money to medicaid, more than a third of that was because of government commitments. That is a risk i will not take on behalf of the taxpayers money. We help everybody living in poverty, we transitioned everyone above it to market place, through exchanges or through their own plans at work or spouses. At the same time we were able to protect. I will workor, what for is bringing down the cost of health care for everyone throughout the state. As i are tough issues, but travel throughout the state, i talked to fall too many entrepreneurs are farmers who or farmerse going who say they are going without insurance because of the cost. Governor walker turned down the expansion of the funding, that was fiscally irresponsible. 206 million in this budget alone. Over lifetime, billions of dollars. This is money that could come into the wisconsin economy to fuel the economy and bring down costs for everyone. We know that when we turned down the money, people still get sick. We are just not getting money to pay for it. In the business world, ceos would be fired for this kind of fiscal responsibility. I would definitely accept the federal medicaid funding. It only makes common sense. The majority of governors in the United States took it, including eight republican governors. They were right and Governor Walker was wrong. He is leaving of the Taxpayers Holding the bag for his poor decisions. Governor walker . The couple weeks ago, i was down in janesville. I was speaking at a Small Business, 12 employees, a small manufacturer. I was talking about obamacare. The owner grabbed the microphone and said, wait a minute. Over the next couple of years i will see a 40 increase in my premiums because of obamacare. Where is it going to come from . Out of his paycheck and the paychecks of his workers. That is not affordable. We had something that worked better before. It was not without faults, and we have to build on that. Burke . I stand by the fiscal irresponsibility of this decision. This is hundreds of millions of dollars in this budget alone, billions of dollars over the next 10 years. The wisconsin taxpayers deserve this. The thought that we would turn away this is wisconsin taxpayer money that we pay to washington, and the fact that we do not have a governor fighting to get the money back here in wisconsin is irresponsible. Mike, you wanted to ask a followup . Governor walker, would be anything to make you reconsider . Again, from our standpoint, we are protecting taxpayers. Jim doyle made a bad bet when he raised eligibility. He created a waiting list of People Living in poverty. We have eliminated that list by covering everybody living in poverty. Remove yourselves forward but did not put ourselves at the same risk. We moved ourselves forward but did not put ourselves at the same risk. Opponent is exacting us to trust a federal government that cannot make medicaid payments even now. That is not a realistic bet. Im a business person. In the business world, if a company if you are getting a contract from a company, and they say we can only promise we will do that for three years, you take the contract. It is revenues that increase your sales and profit. Hat is no different you do not know what will happen the future, but in the meantime, this is money for the wisconsin economy. It reduces the cost of health care and creates jobs. Next question, keith edwards. It has been three years since legislature approved act 10, and the state Supreme Court upheld it. Tell us what you think the law has accomplished, good or bad, and whether you plan to expanded to include Law Enforcement and firefighters or repeal it . Miss burke. I think that when i can was put into place, Governor Walker had said it was needed act 10 was put into place, Governor Walker had said it was needed to get our house in order. Ions aretions to pens only fair, and the private sector you have to do that. But we are back to a deficit. We were told that this was necessary to get the fiscal house in order and we are back to a deficit. 1. 8 million. The plan is not working. He is spending money that we do not have. This year alone, he is spending 400 million more than we are taking in. The lagging economy means that the revenues are down. On makingfocus fiscally responsible decisions that are going to put wisconsin in a place where we have a thriving economy. Was divisive and now we are back to a deficit position. I would definitely continuing in terms of contributions, but Public Employees should have the right to collectively bargain. That does not stand in the way of having effective, efficient, and accountable state government. That is the kind of governor i will be. Every day, every week as a go around the state, i wanted to school board members, town board chairs, who tell me thank you. Some 3ngs alone saved billion for schools, towns, counties, and local government. That is why property taxes, per the first time in about a dozen years, have gone down. They are lower than they were four years ago. But it is not just about the money and balancing the budgets. It is about empowering people to do what they were elected to do by local officials. To an official in northern wisconsin, he said to me that in that school district, one of the best things was that he was able to go back to his office. Instead of worrying about grievances he could focus on curriculum. Se are the people dedicated Public Servants go to work on the local level. The Appleton School district alone, the first year, save 3. 1 saved 3. 1 million by bidding out their Health Insurance, and that went back into the classroom. My opponent went around this answer, because in this campaign is she has done everything to avoid talking about act 10. The people that are spending millions of dollars for attack ads want that repealed. As they took the power because we took the power out of their hands and put it in the hands of thank you governor. Miss burke . I have been very clear who i will work for as governor, and that is the hardworking people of wisconsin. Like the mom in munro, who was worried that her daughter after graduating has not found a job yet. It is the student who wants to go back to tech school, but is one of 41,000 still on the wait list for Financial Aid. Those are the folks i will fight for every day. I want to make it perfectly clear that i do respect the right to collectively bargain to get those wages. The bottom line is that i will stand with the Hardworking Taxpayers. That is what it was all about. I do not see a need to expand it one way or another,. Question per your question. I think that empowered the people that we elect of the local levels, for schools and disabilities, to do what we elected them to do and municipalities, to do what we elected them to do. The latest figures from the department of Natural Resources operationstive frack in central wisconsin. Couple wereek, a shut down after county regulators said they were in wastewater into a pond. A recent report right Wisconsin Public radio says that 20 of nes are presenting environmental problems. Do you think that the economic benefits outweigh the Health Effects . To the gods and the glaciers, we have some of the best frack fans in the world. Sands in the world. We want to continue to do that going forward. In the last budget, i added additional positions to do those inspections. Boom thatuse of the you talked about, we need to do more in the future. If i am still around, we will add more positions, both because he wanted keep up with the pace for those were legitimate leader to operate, as well as to make sure that we protect the health and safety of everyone in and around those mines. I do have concerns about whether we are balancing job creation with protecting Natural Resources. There was legislation to try to take away local control so that local communities could be making to these about decisions about what is best for them. Bigmoney special interests are driving the decisions in the Governors Office instead of what is good for the people of wisconsin and the local community, to find the balance between jobs and protecting Natural Resources. What we have seen recently is that there was a secret 700,000 Campaign Contribution from an outofstate contribution. Governor walker change the roles so that we have that companies that mining in the northwoods. I think that most of the people of wisconsin think that that should be illegal, if it is not. I will not sell out to special interests. I will make sure that we make the best decisions for the people of wisconsin, for local communities. I know that we can balance jobs and protecting Natural Resources. Governor walker . There is bipartisan interest in this. Mayor of whitehall. I join with him and other local officials to tour a site. He said at first he had hesitation, but then he saw the operation, saw what was required, and saw the economic impact, both on the construction as well as longterm for the people. I think there will be a healthy balance to continue to add staff to the dnr and keep up with the boom governor. We have not found a balance between jobs and protecting the environment. And that is what is important. We have to make sure to give the local communities the control that they need to make sure they are not only protecting our environment but also giving them the tools that they can negotiate, so the communities can repair the damage to the roads that the mining causes. An opportunity for wisconsin, but we should not be selling out our Natural Resources. Sean . Wanted to ask you both about the budget, specifically the budget shortfall for the current fiscal year. Au says thatn bure even if the tax revenues grow by , wisconsin projected will end this fiscal year through 97 million in the hole 397 million in the hole. How would you feel that wh fill that hole . Balanced budgets my entire career. You have to go line item by line item. The priorities that i would set our job creation. Us on what foc will grow that economy, because if we had grown at the same it is the national economy, or be 4 billion a year bigger. Would be 4 billion a year bigger. Governor walker made fiscally irresponsible decisions. Hes that money we did not have of revenuesd coming in, and now we are on deficit. I will prioritize spending based on economic development. We will not spend money that we do not have. I will stop some programs, like the new 30 million Entitlement Program that the governor created that subsidizes private School Tuition for while the parents. Wealthy parents. Along with the expansion of the statewide vouchers. Say what will impact wisconsin, what will help local communities to make sure that we have strong education. It will be about tough decisions, but i am prepared to do that. Governor walker . Sean, as you know, the most of thememo with respect bureau shows that the next budget will have a half billion dollars surplus. Talkingmy opponent is about is based on no changes,. Hich has never happened the bottom line, is that if you take reasonable judgments, you take the fiveyear average of revenue growth, we end up with about 500 million in surplus in the next budget. We made reasonable adjustments out there. We took a 3. 6 billion budget deficit that we inherited from my predecessor and turned into a surplus. We did at the oldfashioned way, we pay back the money from the transportation fund. We pay back the money raided from the patient compensation fund. Is 165the Rainy Day Fund times bigger than it was when i took office. Once we got a surplus, what do we do . We give it back to the people who earned it, the taxpayers. This spring, we lowered property taxes against way typical family will see an extra 320. My opponent said that we should not do that, we should keep the money in madison. I do not hear a lot of people in eau claire saying that we should keep more of our money in madison. A the fact remains that it is 1. 8 billion projected deficit. In most cases, that increases in spending plans. I think that number could go up. Governor walker made fiscally responsible decisions based on rosy projections. What we are hearing tonight is once again rosy projections and not being honest. Governor . Ward, 500,000 surplus. These pending decisions my opponent is talking about were giving you money back. 300 five dollars. For a young company, that is a lot of diapers. 325. Made jumper to go to investments giving the money back to the Hardworking Taxpayers of the state pretty Good Investments giving the money back to the Hardworking Taxpayers of the state. We go to another question, you will have to give short answers. What is one thing that your opponent brings to the table that you think is a positive for leading the state for four years . Governor walker, your first. You are first. I respect the philanthropic activities of my opponent. I helped with the boys and girls club. She has done some remarkable work, donated great money and provide a leadership. Miss burke . I think that Governor Walker has certainly done some very good things in the community. Certainly his work around Domestic Abuse is important. Along with some of the charitable work has done. Thanks to both of you. We are not going to turn to your opportunity to give us each three minutes closing statements. Governor walker goes first. Thanks to you and the broadcast association and the panelists. Thanks to my opponent, i look forward to seeing you again next week, same time not the same station but the same location. They do all of you for giving up thanks to all of you for giving up your friday night. A lot has changed over the last four years. We have the lowest unemployment years ago. Six jobs are coming back, Small Businesses are expanding, new businesses are starting. Property taxes are down. Tuition is frozen. We took a 3. 6 billion budget deficit and turned into a surplus. Some things have not changed. I still have that saturn ive bought, of the my son drives it more. Although my son drives it more. I still eat lunch of a brown bag. And i still love the people of the state of wisconsin. I am looking forward to being your governor if you give me the chance. I love being the governor, i love the state. I love traveling and visiting small towns and big downs and everywhere in between. I love going to factories and farms and Small Businesses and meeting amazing people. Proud to work are together as a team to represent the people of the state of wisconsin. For your vote on behalf of two people, matt and alex. They are my sons. We also down and prayed about getting into the race for governor. We knew it would be tough, but we knew it would be worth it. Because we were afraid. We were afraid that our sons would grow up in a wisconsin that was not as great as to wisconsin we grew up in. As parents, that was not acceptable. Proud to tell you, because of my reforms, as tough as they were and some people may not agree with everything that we have done in every step to help that you can see that our motives were pure, that we did it to ensure that the next generation but i hope that you can see that our motives were pure, that we did it to ensure that the next generation would grow up in a wisconsin even better than the wisconsin we grow up in. We do not want to go backwards, we want to go forward. Tonight, on their behalf, i ask for your vote on november 4. Thank you, governor. Thank you to everyone who is tuned in and the panelists and, of course, jill. As you have heard tonight, there is a clear choice. Governor walker has had four years. His topdown approach is not working. Lets recap the last four years. The economy is the dead last in the midwest in terms of job creation, 35th in the country, and is not getting better. We lost 4300 jobs. The typical family has lost 3000 in real income over the last four years. We are facing a 1. 8 billion deficit going into the next budget. That is not a comeback, and it is not good enough. If we had kept pace with the country, the economy would be 4 billion bigger. That would be an additional tax base to Fund Education and infrastructure while reducing taxes. Think about what that means for you. A Better School for your child, more Affordable College education, more Economic Security for your retirement. Tax cuts for millionaires and special interest do not create jobs. Growing the middle class and Small Businesses does. I will put politics aside and focus on what is going to work. I do not care if ideas are republican or democratic, just whether they will get the job done. And i will set a different tone. Governor walker s tone has been to divide and conquer. That is not the wisconsin way. I will not only change the tone, i will change the system. Reason that bigmoney special interest should have more of a voice than you do. We have seen what happens when we turn over a state to powerful special interests. A 700,000 dollar Campaign Contribution, and Governor Walker changes the roles of that a Big Corporation can strip monday northwoods. Northwoods. The new direction that i have laid out, wisconsin will be about a fair shot and a square deal for those willing to do the hard work. My career has been about possibilities, taking on challenges in getting results. I cannot wait to get to work as your governor. We have everything that we need to be a growing, thriving, innovative state that is the leader. I ask for your vote on november 4 to build a wisconsin that works for everyone. Thank you. I would like to thank the candidates and recap the subjects we cover tonight. Voter identification, jobs, the minimum wage, abortion, fouryear terms, medicaid, send mining, the budget sand mining, the budget. There are other questions that the citizens want to ask you, which is why we are glad the you agree to a debate next week. You will be asked questions about climate, student debt, the transportation budget. Panelurnalists on that will be, we think, as good as this panel has been. We thank you for listening carefully and responding candidly rid would also like to thank the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association. Stations are carrying this broadcast either live or delayed. It is carried live on cspan and will be streamed on the pbs news hour. There is a lot of attention on the race and we would like to thank you for your contributions. We would like to thank the panel. Shawn johnson of Wisconsin Public radio. Mike thompson. Keith edwards. Clark, anchor and reporter. We would like to thank all of you. I have, the audience, which has been so patient and promised it would hold its applause, may now do what it wants to do. [applause] cspan covering 100 and 20. Follow us on twitter and like a fun facebook. Facebook. On 5 unemployment. And your comments on facebook. Com. Debateto the iowa senate. Well have like coverage on a pm eastern right back here on cspan. Live coverage 8 p. M. Eastern right back here on cspan. The student cam, titian is underway. This will award of 150,000. Create a documentary on the topic the three branches and you. They need to incorporate cspan programming, incorporated varied points of view, and be submitted by january. Grab a camera and get started today. Next, a Memorial Service for former press secretary james in brady, who died august. He was shot in the attempted assassination of president reagan. Memorial Service Included speeches by former White House Press secretarys and members of the White House Press corps. This is an hour and a half. Welcome. I am the reverend george. I am bruce stewart. Where greeting you today, as jim brady would greet you, with an irish blessing. Lead this blessing in his honor as we begin the service and celebrate his life. May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind the ever at your back. Sun shine may the warm up on your back and the rainfall soft on your fields. And until we meet again, may god hold you in the palm of his hand. May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain. Tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you, and all your heart might desire. May Saint Patrick card you wherever you go guard you. Herever you go may his loving protection be a blessing to you, always. Good morning. I am joe lockhart. I am proud to be in a very small fraternity of former White House Press secretarys. To walk up after a prayer, though that was subtly different than what i used to say to myself. Please god, let me get to the next hour. On behalf of the brady family, we want to thank you for coming. Your presence means so much to them and to the family. I mentioned the fraternity, we have some former press secretaries here. Thank you for coming. Were here for a simple reason. We loved jim brady. Let me amend that a little bit, we love jim and sarah brady. For me, sometimes people would say jim brady and i wouldnt know who they were talking about because to me, they were jim and sara brady. We are here to honor his legacy, but to honor sarah and the family and all they have done. They were one of the most formidable couples in town. They were also one of the most lovable couples. We are here to celebrate his life today through many of his colleagues and the operative word is celebrate. Thats what i hope well do. Anyone who stands behind a white house podium knows you spend most of your time answering hard and tough questions. But i actually on occasion got some easy ones and i want to share two of them with you today. One of them was who is your personal hero . Mine was jim brady. One was a personal connection. Anyone with any objective research would find that we were the last of the press secretaries who shared the hollywood good looks and fashion sense that very often you see in he movies. The rest, not so much. But seriously. He is a hero not because of what happened to him. People face tragedy in their lives in every family across the country. He is a hero because of what he did with it. We live in a very partisan and difficult town right now. It is hard to believe that we can find Common Ground on issues that arent that hard. Much less ones like gun safety. But jim and sarah got things done and we shouldnt forget that. The second question i get and have gotten quite often is,