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74-550: The team is owned by Dan Kapanke , a former Wisconsin state senator. The Loggers are one of 26 teams in the Northwoods League , playing 72 games per season, from late May through mid-August. The Northwoods League is a summer collegiate league that provides an opportunity for college players to spend their summers and display their talents to professional scouts. Players must be enrolled in college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility to participate. The league

148-1022: A B.S. in 1975 and a M.E.P.D. in Education in 1987. He served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and in the Wisconsin National Guard . He also served on the Town of Campbell Board. He is the founding owner of the La Crosse Loggers Northwoods League baseball team and was a district sales manager at Kaltenberg Seed Farms for 30 years. Kapanke won election to the Wisconsin State Senate twice, first in 2004 against LaCrosse County Board Supervisor Brad Pfaff , and again in 2008 against La Crosse County Supervisor Tara Johnson . Kapanke served as chair of

222-438: A "fiercely-fought" campaign for student government president. Walker led the anti-abortion Students for Life group at Marquette. Walker discontinued his studies at Marquette in the spring of 1990, having earned 94 of the 128 minimum credits needed to graduate. He left in good standing with a 2.59/4.0 grade point average , but without having obtained a degree. Walker has said that he dropped out of college when he received

296-512: A bookkeeper, and Llewellyn Scott "Llew" Walker (May 19, 1939 – October 7, 2018), a Baptist minister. The family moved to Plainfield, Iowa , in 1970, where Llew worked as pastor in the local Baptist Church, TBC, and served on the municipal council. When Walker was ten years old, the family moved to Delavan, Wisconsin , where his father continued to work as a minister, at the First Baptist Church of Delavan. In 1985, when Walker

370-561: A campaign for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election ; however, he withdrew from the race after only two months as a result of declining support in polls. Walker sought a third term as governor in 2018 , but was narrowly defeated by Democrat Tony Evers . Walker was born on November 2, 1967, in Colorado Springs, Colorado , the elder of two sons of Patricia Ann "Pat" (née Fitch; born December 30, 1938),

444-560: A challenge with the Government Accountability Board stating that the recall petitions should be thrown out as organizers neglected to file a required registration statement. According to Kapanke's challenge, a specific organizer, Patrick Scheller, is the Recall Petitioner, as he was the one delivering the 22,561 petitions, and thus should have filed the registration himself (which was instead filed by

518-511: A completely red state and work on these unions and become a right-to-work (state)?", and he replied: Well, we're going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill. The first step is, we're going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employee unions, because you use divide and conquer. So for us the base we've got for that is the fact that we've got – budgetarily we can't afford not to. If we have collective bargaining agreements in place, there's no way not only

592-607: A compromise with Democratic legislators, the Republican-led Senate removed certain fiscal provisions from the bill, allowing it to be passed without the usual quorum requirement. On March 9, 2011, the Wisconsin Senate voted 18–1 to pass the legislation; Senate Democrats remained out of state and did not participate in the vote. The Wisconsin Assembly passed the bill one day later by a vote of 53–42. After

666-717: A court order to prohibit publication of the bill by the Secretary of State while legal challenges to it were being considered. On March 26, the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) published the bill. Sumi subsequently clarified that, pursuant to her order, the bill could not be considered to be published until the court challenge was resolved. On May 26, Judge Sumi struck down the law, finding that its passage violated state open meetings laws. The Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed Sumi's ruling and upheld

740-604: A full-time job offer from the American Red Cross . In 1990, at age 22, Walker ran for Milwaukee's 7th District seat in the Wisconsin State Assembly . He won the Republican nomination, but lost in the general election to incumbent Democrat Gwen Moore , receiving less than one-third of the vote. In 1993, Walker moved to Wauwatosa , a suburb of Milwaukee, and ran in a special election in

814-487: A law that allowed gay couples to register with counties to get certain benefits, such as hospital visitation rights. He later stated that his position on same-sex marriage was no longer relevant because Wisconsin's ban on same-sex marriage had been overturned by a federal court. Walker said he would sign an Arizona-style immigration bill , which would allow local police to stop suspected illegal immigrants, if he were elected. On November 2, 2010, his 43rd birthday, Walker won

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888-602: A leader that obviously gets his mission on this earth?", referring to their strong religious beliefs. At a separate occasion, he indicated that he did not believe that Walker's plans went far enough, and stated that public safety unions (police, firemen, and state patrol unions) should be included in the collective bargaining ban (under Walker's plan, they are exempt.) On April 1, 2011, Wisconsin Democrats announced that they had enough signatures to recall Kapanke and filed petitions that day, with 22,561 signatures, 45% more than

962-423: A lobbyist-funded charity to pay off personal debt, and violating the state's open records law, causing taxpayers to pay $ 38,000 in legal bills. According to Kapanke, the violations were unintentional. During the 2011 Wisconsin protests, Kapanke reported that he had received death threats from his vote, and claimed that the windshield of his car had been vandalized, causing him to cancel public appearances. However,

1036-557: A pen." In late May, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) approved the recall petition against Senator Kapanke, rejecting his challenge. The date for the recall election was set for August 9, 2011, following a Democratic primary on July 12, 2011. Kapanke lost the recall effort to Shilling on August 9, 2011, earning 45% of the vote (26,724) to Shilling's 55% (33,192). In the summer 2009, Kapanke announced his intention to run for

1110-406: A police report had previously concluded that the damage was instead caused by a stray rock. Nevertheless, Kapanke persisted in publicly blaming it on protesters; according to PolitiFact , "Kapanke allowed the myth of the smashed windshield to run wild and uncorrected for almost three weeks after he knew it was not true." Kapanke was subject to an active recall effort to remove him from his seat in

1184-690: Is an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party , he previously served as Milwaukee County executive from 2002 to 2010. Born in Colorado Springs, Colorado , Walker was raised in Plainfield, Iowa and in Delavan, Wisconsin . He was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1992, representing a district in western Milwaukee County . In 2002, Walker

1258-726: Is an American politician who was a former Republican member of the Wisconsin Senate , representing the 32nd District from 2005 until losing his seat to Jennifer Shilling in the 2011 Wisconsin Senate recall elections . Kapanke was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin on August 21, 1947. He graduated from Luther High School in Onalaska in 1965. He later graduated from the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse , where he earned

1332-490: Is designed to give college players the minor league experience, providing players an opportunity to play under the same conditions using wooden bats and minor league specification baseballs, experiencing overnight road trips, and playing nightly before fans in a stadium. This article about a baseball team in Wisconsin is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . ... Dan Kapanke Daniel E. Kapanke

1406-658: The Associated Press . Walker became a figure of national recognition and controversy after he proposed the " Wisconsin budget repair bill " in 2011. The bill, which would eventually be passed by the Wisconsin Legislature , significantly changed the collective bargaining process for most public employees in Wisconsin. Opponents of Walker's actions launched a push for a recall election and received enough support to force an election on June 5, 2012,

1480-628: The United States House of Representatives in Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district . His state senate district was largely coextensive with the central portion of the congressional district, including its second-largest city, La Crosse. In October 2009, Kapanke was added to the National Republican Congressional Committee 's Young Guns Program as an "On the Radar" candidate. This designation

1554-693: The Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill ; the legislation proposed to effectively eliminate collective bargaining for most Wisconsin public employees. In response, opponents of the bill protested at the Wisconsin State Capitol and Senate Democrats left the state in an effort to prevent the bill from being passed. Nevertheless, the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill became law in March 2011. Opposition to

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1628-490: The primary election of September 14, 2010, receiving 59% of the popular vote, while former U.S. Representative Mark Neumann garnered 39%. As part of his campaign platform, Walker said he would create 250,000 jobs in his first term through a program that would include tax cuts for small businesses, capital gains tax cuts, and income tax cuts. He proposed cutting state employee wages and benefits to help pay for these tax cuts. Critics argued that his proposals would help only

1702-555: The "political bug". He attained the highest rank, Eagle Scout , in the Boy Scouts of America , and graduated from Delavan-Darien High School in 1986. In the fall of 1986, Walker enrolled at Marquette University . Within a few weeks of beginning his collegiate studies, Walker became a student senator and led a committee investigating alleged misuse of funds by student leaders. During the same year, he volunteered for Tommy Thompson 's gubernatorial campaign. In 1988, Walker lost

1776-430: The 15,588 verifiable signatures required by the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB). On April 9, 2011, State Rep. Jennifer Shilling (D - La Crosse) announced her candidacy against Kapanke in a possible recall election. At a LaCrosse County Republican Party meeting held in late May 2011, party officials discussed the possibility of running an additional Democratic Party candidate against Rep. Shilling, with

1850-430: The Assembly passed the bill, Walker released a statement in which he "applaud[ed] all members of the Assembly for showing up, debating the legislation and participating in democracy". Walker signed the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill into law on March 11, 2011. On March 12, the fourteen Democratic senators who had left the state returned. The Budget Repair Law was challenged in court. On March 18, Judge Maryann Sumi issued

1924-591: The Courts. Over the years, he served on a number of other committees, including Health, Census and Redistricting, Financial Institutions, and Housing. As a freshman legislator in 1993, he co-sponsored right-to-work legislation . In 1999 he advocated for a truth-in-sentencing bill that increased prison time for some crimes and eliminated parole for others. Walker was a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) at

1998-489: The Government Accountability Board unanimously ruled in favor of the recall election. The recall elections for both Walker and Kleefisch took place on June 5, 2012. During the Republican primary election for the recall, Walker received 626,538 votes. In the Democratic primary, all of the Democratic candidates combined received 670,288, with the winner, Tom Barrett, receiving 390,109, a majority. On June 5, 2012, Walker won

2072-649: The Operation Freedom Benefit, with proceeds to the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Walker's Chief of Staff, Thomas Nardelli, indicated that he went to Walker with concerns about missing money in 2009, and Walker directed him to report it to the district attorney's office. The district attorney did not immediately act but later launched a " John Doe " investigation. Kavanaugh and four others were arrested for theft of funds. Kavanaugh

2146-476: The Recall Committee.) Kapanke also challenged approximately 900 of the 22,561 signatures (15,588 valid signatures are required to force a recall election.) Pro-recall organizers filed a rebuttal in response, arguing that Kapanke's argument "proceeds from a false factual premise", noting that Scheller was simply a representative of the recall committee, as "a committee can neither be an elector or hold

2220-562: The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, and Higher Education, and was also a member of the committees on Energy, Biotechnology, and Consumer Protection, on Financial Institutions and Rural Issues, and on Workforce Development, Small Business, and Tourism. He was also co-chair of the Joint Survey Committee on Retirement Systems. Kapanke had been criticized for ethics violations, including using $ 32,000 from

2294-716: The Wisconsin Senate, as part of the 2011 Wisconsin protests . On March 2, 2011, the "Committee to Recall Kapanke" officially registered with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board . 15,588 valid signatures of electors residing within the 32nd District had to be collected by May 2, 2011 to generate a recall election. A March 9, 2011 poll by Survey USA indicated that 57% voters in Kapanke's district would vote for recall. Kapanke indicated his strong support for Governor Scott Walker , explaining it by asking, "How can you go wrong following

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2368-491: The assembly and about 80% of the Republicans in the assembly. Walker had a pro-life record in the Assembly. With the exception of some bills while Walker was running for Milwaukee County Executive, Walker either sponsored or cosponsored all but three bills that would have restricted abortions. In 2001–02, Walker and fellow Assemblymember Michael Huebsch objected to the hiring of a state employee, Rev. Jamyi Witch, on

2442-489: The basis of her religious beliefs as a Wiccan . Walker claimed that Witch's hiring as a prison chaplain raised "both personal and political concerns" because she "practice[d] a religion that actually offends people of many other faiths". Walker and Huebsch were ultimately unsuccessful in terminating Witch's chaplaincy or employment. Walker became Milwaukee County Executive in a special election run in April 2002, after

2516-477: The bill. Walker warned that if the budget repair bill was not passed by March 1, refinancing of a $ 165 million state debt would fail, and more cuts would be needed to balance the budget. By February 20, protestors had undertaken a physical occupation of the Capitol building. Protestors also covered the walls of the Capitol with thousands of homemade signs. On February 20, a union organizer participating in

2590-415: The changes because he would not jeopardize public safety. Walker stated that the bill was necessary to avoid laying off thousands of state employees and that no one should be surprised by its provisions. Union leaders and Democratic legislators immediately criticized the bill, claiming Walker had never campaigned on doing away with collective bargaining rights. In a media interview a week later, Walker said he

2664-410: The contentious collective bargaining dispute , Walker's disapproval ratings varied between 50% and 51% while his approval ratings varied between 47% and 49% in 2011. The effort to recall Walker officially began on November 15, 2011. Walker reportedly raised more than $ 30 million during the recall effort, with a significant portion from out of state. Commentators claimed the amount of money raised

2738-709: The contributions came from outside Wisconsin. Walker, or the conservative causes he supports, are also supported by conservative donors and groups including Michael W. Grebe , Diane Hendricks , and the Bradley Foundation , founder of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and the MacIver Institute ; and David H. Koch and Charles Koch , initial funders of Americans for Prosperity . In his third election in four years, Walker faced Democrat Mary Burke to determine

2812-482: The county board "over taxes, privatization of public services, quality of parks and public buildings, and delivery of social services", according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel . The County Board approved several budgets over Walker's veto and he never submitted a budget with a higher property tax than the board had approved the prior year. During Walker's tenure the number of county employees

2886-545: The endorsements of Wisconsin Right to Life and The Milwaukee Sentinel , which called him a fiscal conservative and noted his anti-abortion , tough-on-crime, and pro-welfare reform positions. He was re-elected four times, serving until 2002 when he became a county executive. While in the Assembly, Walker was interested in criminal justice matters and chaired the Committees on Correctional Facilities, and Corrections and

2960-427: The financial concessions in the bill, but would not agree to the limitations of collective bargaining rights. On February 17, 2011, all 14 Democratic state senators traveled to Illinois to prevent the passage of the bill by depriving the Senate of the quorum necessary for a vote. The missing legislators said they would not return to Madison unless Walker agreed to remove the limitations on collective bargaining from

3034-434: The first time a Governor of Wisconsin had ever faced recall. During Walker's first term as governor, the state's $ 3.6 billion budget deficit was turned into a surplus and taxes were cut by $ 2 billion. More than 100,000 jobs were created in the state of Wisconsin. Walker proposed the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill on February 11, 2011, estimated to save Wisconsin $ 30 million in the current fiscal year and $ 300 million over

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3108-433: The former County Executive, Tom Ament , resigned in the wake of a county pension-fund scandal. Walker was elected to a four-year term in 2004, winning 57% of the vote to defeat former state budget director, David Riemer. Although in a liberal county and running for a nonpartisan position, Walker ran openly as a conservative Republican. He won another four-year term in 2008, defeating State Senator Lena Taylor with 59% of

3182-574: The general election to incumbent Congressman Ron Kind , taking 46 percent of the vote to Kind's 50 percent. It was easily the closest race in Kind's career up to that point, and the 2nd closest race of his entire career (Kind announced his retirement from Congress in 2021. ), after the Republican nominee in 2020, Derrick Van Orden , was defeated by Kind in 2020 by just 3 points. Scott Walker (politician) Scott Kevin Walker (born November 2, 1967)

3256-496: The general election with 52% of total votes cast, while Democrat Tom Barrett received 46%. His running mate was Rebecca Kleefisch , a former Milwaukee television news reporter. Walker's victory came amid a series of Wisconsin GOP victories, with conservative Republican Ron Johnson winning the contested U.S. Senate seat, and with the GOP gaining majorities in the state's U.S. House delegation, State Assembly, and State Senate. After

3330-690: The general election. Green lost the general election, in November 2006, to the incumbent Democrat, Jim Doyle . Despite Green's loss, Walker's strong support for him helped increase Walker's favorability with the state GOP and positioned him as the frontrunner for the 2010 election. Walker was an early favorite for the 2010 Republican Party endorsement for Wisconsin governor, winning straw polls of Wisconsin GOP convention attendees in 2007 and 2008. He announced his candidacy in late April 2009 after several months of previewing his campaign themes of reduced taxes and reduced spending to Republican audiences around

3404-401: The governor of Wisconsin. Wisconsin labor unions, who helped organize the 2012 Wisconsin recall election, donated funds to boost Burke's campaign. Walker received help from a number of conservative donors. The polling through most of the race was close and no candidate was a definitive favorite. The gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014, and Walker won re-election by 6 percent of

3478-407: The intent being to force a primary election against a token opponent, delaying the date of the recall election. According to election clerks, this would cost the state $ 101,000. At the same meeting, Kapanke expressed concern over his re-election bid due to the large number of public workers in his district, saying that he hoped they would sleep through the election. On April 15, 2011, Kapanke filed

3552-566: The law led to an attempt to recall Walker from office in 2012. Walker prevailed in the recall election , becoming the first of two incumbent governors in the history of the United States to win a recall election, the other being California governor Gavin Newsom in 2021. Walker was re-elected in 2014, defeating Democratic Madison School Board member Mary Burke . Following heavy speculation about his presidential ambitions, Walker launched

3626-502: The law on June 14, 2011. Walker claimed that the Budget Repair Law would "save jobs, protect taxpayers, reform government and help balance the budget." He added, "You see, despite a lot of the rhetoric we've heard over the past 11 days the bill I put forward isn't aimed at state workers, and it certainly isn't a battle with unions. If it was, we would have eliminated collective bargaining entirely or we would have gone after

3700-420: The more conservative 14th legislative district , based around Wauwatosa. He defeated Democrat Chris Ament, son of then-Milwaukee County Executive Tom Ament . During the campaign, Walker backed welfare reform and opposed the expansion of mass transit . He supported a cap on state spending and said that the law on resolving labor disputes with local government employees needed to be reformed. Walker received

3774-403: The next two years. The bill requires additional contributions by state and local government workers to their health care plans and pensions, amounting to roughly an 8% decrease in the average government worker's take home pay. The bill eliminated, for most state workers, other than certain public safety workers, many collective bargaining rights aside from seeking pay increases, and then not above

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3848-527: The pensions and health care and that, in one case, a contract even included a pay increase. On February 28, the largest public union filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the state labor relations board, claiming that Walker had a duty to negotiate, but had refused. On March 8, private emails dating back to February 28 were released. These emails showed that Governor Walker had tried to negotiate with Democratic legislators, even proposing to allow some collective bargaining rights. After failing to reach

3922-626: The private-sector unions." As part of the cost savings resulting from the changes to collective bargaining, Walker pointed to significant reductions in the premiums for health insurance for many school districts. Prior to the deficit reduction bill, WEA Trust, which is affiliated with Wisconsin's largest teachers union, dominated the market for health insurance for the state's school districts. The changes to collective bargaining made it easier for school districts to change health insurance providers and negotiate better premiums. Walker claimed that Wisconsin school districts have saved an estimated $ 30 million as

3996-694: The protests said that the protests would continue "as long as it takes." Other union leaders called for teachers to return to work. On February 26, between 70,000 and 100,000 protested the bill in Madison. They were joined by thousands at state capitals around the nation. Appearing on Meet the Press on February 27, Walker stated that he did not believe the unions were negotiating in good faith in offering pension and health-care concessions because local unions had recently pushed through contracts with school boards and city councils that did not include contributions to

4070-471: The public schools and opposes state supported clinical services that provide birth control and testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases to teens under age 18 without parental consent. He supports the right of pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for contraceptives on religious or moral grounds. He supports adult stem cell research but opposes human embryonic stem cell research. As an opponent of same-sex marriage , he opposed

4144-503: The rate of inflation, unless approved by a voter referendum . Under the bill, unions have to win yearly votes to continue representing government workers and could no longer have dues automatically deducted from government workers' paychecks. Certain law enforcement personnel and firefighters are exempt from the bargaining changes. On January 18, 2011, days after Walker's inauguration, Beloit businesswoman and Walker supporter Diane Hendricks asked him, "Any chance we'll ever get to be

4218-516: The recall election. This was only the third gubernatorial recall election in U.S. history. Walker won the recall, his second face-off with Barrett, by a slightly larger margin (53% to 46%) than in the 2010 election (52% to 46%) and became the first U.S. governor to win a recall election. By the end of the recall election, Walker had a national network of conservative donors and groups supporting him. Nearly 300,000 people donated to his recall campaign, which garnered roughly $ 37 million. Two-thirds of

4292-577: The signatures were not valid. Democrats argued that even if 20% of the signatures were disregarded they still had obtained 180,000 more signatures than required to initiate the recall. Wisconsin Democratic Party Communications Director Graeme Zielinski claimed Walker was "delaying the inevitable". On February 17, 2012, Dane County Judge Richard Niess, who had signed the recall petition, denied Walker's request for additional time. On March 30, 2012,

4366-466: The state but local governments can balance things out. So you think city of Beloit, city of Janesville, any of the school districts, that opens the door once we do that. That's your bigger problem right there. After videotape of the interaction was released in May 2012, Walker's opponents said Walker had revealed his intention to target private sector unions and pursue right-to-work legislation. Walker said he

4440-467: The state. He criticized the 2009–2011 Wisconsin state budget as too big given the slow economy. In 2009 and 2010, Americans for Prosperity helped raise Walker's statewide profile, inviting him to address its events and rallies throughout the state. Walker won the Wisconsin GOP convention endorsement on May 22, 2010, receiving 91% of the votes cast by delegates. He won the Republican nomination in

4514-416: The time, and credited the organization for much of the success of the legislation. In 2001, he sponsored a bill to prevent pharmacists from being disciplined for refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception and was a supporter of a bill to require voters to show photo ID at the polls. According to research by two political analysts, Walker was more conservative than about 90% of his peers in

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4588-522: The vote. Walker sought a third term in the 2018 elections. His opponent, Democratic Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers, defeated him in the election. Walker took the oath of office to become the 45th Governor of Wisconsin on January 3, 2011. By January 25, 2011, the state legislature passed a series of Walker-backed bills, the largest of which would cut taxes for businesses at "a two-year cost of $ 67 million", according to

4662-615: The vote. Upon first being elected, Walker became the youngest person and the first Republican ever elected to the position and remains the only Republican to hold this office to date. Walker won the office on a platform of fiscal conservatism , promising to give back part of his own salary. He said that his voluntary give-back gave him moral authority to make cuts in the budget. He returned $ 60,000 per year (slightly less than half of his salary) during his first term, and reduced his give-back to $ 10,000 per year during his second term. During his eight years in office, there were disputes with

4736-473: The wealthy and that cutting the salaries of public employees would adversely affect state services, while supporters argued that tax cuts for businesses would spur the economy and create jobs. Walker indicated he would refuse an $ 810 million award from the federal Department of Transportation to build a high speed railroad line from Madison to Milwaukee as he believed it would cost the state $ 7.5 million per year to operate and would not prove profitable. This

4810-411: Was "illustrating the national significance both political parties saw in the recall fight". In March 2012, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board announced there were more than 900,000 valid signatures to force a recall vote, well above the required minimum of 540,208. In February 2012, Walker's campaign requested additional time for the petition signatures to be verified, claiming about 20% of

4884-471: Was convicted and sentenced to 21 months in prison. Tim Russell, employed by Walker in a number of posts, was implicated in the same investigation; he was charged in January 2012 and pleaded guilty in November 2012 to diverting more than $ 21,000 to his personal bank account. In 2010, Walker's last year as Milwaukee County executive, Russell was his deputy chief of staff and Milwaukee Housing Director. Walker

4958-401: Was elected Milwaukee County Executive in a special election following the resignation of F. Thomas Ament ; he was elected to a full term in 2004 and was re-elected in 2008. Walker ran for Governor of Wisconsin in 2006 , but dropped out of the race before the primary election. He ran again in 2010 and won. Shortly after his inauguration in 2011, Walker gained national attention by introducing

5032-463: Was in high school, he attended and represented Wisconsin at two weeks of American Legion -sponsored training in leadership and government at Badger Boys State in Wisconsin and Boys Nation in Washington, D.C. While at the event, he met President Ronald Reagan and had a photo taken with him. Walker has credited the experience with solidifying his interest in public service and giving him

5106-631: Was in spite of offers by the mayor of Madison and the Dane County executive to help absorb costs the state might have incurred. The award was later rescinded and split among other states. This cost the state at least $ 60 million for rail repairs federal funds would have covered. Social issues played a part in the campaign. Walker has stated that he is "100% pro-life" and that he believes life should be protected from conception to natural death. He opposes abortion , including in cases of rape and incest . He supports abstinence-only sex education in

5180-468: Was not charged with any wrongdoing. While county executive, Walker became a candidate, in February 2005, in the 2006 race for Wisconsin governor. He dropped out on March 24, 2006, after about 14 months of campaigning, citing fundraising difficulties. Walker threw his support to fellow Republican Mark Andrew Green , who won the Republican primary unopposed, and Walker actively campaigned for him during

5254-481: Was not pursuing right-to-work legislation and that in his 2011 comment to Hendricks he was referring to his responsibility as governor to defend taxpayers from unions that he believed were frustrating resolution of the state's budget deficit. In announcing the proposed legislation, Walker said the Wisconsin National Guard and other state agencies were prepared to prevent disruptions in state services. He later explained that police and firefighters were excluded from

5328-442: Was not trying to break the public sector unions, noting that Wisconsin government employees would retain the protections of civil service laws. He said that asking employees to pay half the national average for health care benefits was a modest request. Demonstrators began protesting the proposed bill on February 14, 2011. During the sixth day of the protests, leaders of the two largest unions said publicly they were prepared to accept

5402-476: Was only given to ten Republican Congressional candidates in the Midwest. During the same month, Congressional Quarterly readjusted the 3rd Congressional District political status from a "Safe Democratic" to a "Likely Democratic" district. In September 2010, Kapanke defeated Bruce Evers in the 3rd congressional district Republican Primary election. Kapanke won with approximately 78% of the vote. Kapanke then lost

5476-673: Was reduced by over 20% and the $ 3.5 million county deficit was turned into a surplus. In addition, he cut over $ 44 million in proposed spending through his veto powers and helped eliminate the waiting list for long-term care for senior citizens. Walker appointed Kevin Kavanaugh, treasurer of the local chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart , as a member of the County Veterans Service Commission. Walker raised funds annually for veterans at

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