It's Walker's vision that's bankrupt

"Help! Help! Emergency!" Milwaukee County's going bankrupt -- but it's not my fault." -- County Executive Scott Walker.

Darn that Tom Ament. And those public employees. And those state legislators. And the County Board.

They've all ganged up on Milwaukee County to make Scott Walker look bad -- and with an election for governor coming, too. Talk about bad timing for those chickens to come home to roost.

The headline and lede from Dave Umhoefer's Journal Sentinel story today:

Walker seeks rescue from state, unions

He says 'potential insolvency' forces tough decisions

In unusually blunt terms, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker is crying out for a rollback of retiree benefits and for aid from state taxpayers and lawmakers to help stave off "potential insolvency" he says threatens the county unless tough decisions ease growing built-in budget shortfalls.

If his platform in the governor's race is a big bailout for Milwaukee County, courtesy of taxpayers statewide, he is in deep doo-doo.

He's raising it now because there's no way to avoid talking about it right in the middle of the governor's race. He usually presents his county budget proposal in September. It could keep until after the primary, but details are sure to leak out at the worst possible time. So he's decided to get the bad news out now, farther from the election.

David Riemer, the former state budget director who ran against Walker for exec in 2004 (Disclosure: I was his consultant)has a few questions (I've edited and paraphrased a little):

How big is the gap between next year’s expenses and next year’s revenues?

How much state aid does Walker believe Milwaukee should get to help fill the gap?

If Milwaukee gets additional state aid to pay for its court, social service, and other costs, does Walker believe that other Wisconsin counties should also receive state aid for those purposes? If so,what is the cost of the total relief package?

Walker knows that additional state aid for Milwaukee and other counties isn’t “free” money but must be financed by either cuts in other state spending or increased state taxes. What existing state programs does he want to cut and by what amounts? (It seems safe to assume he opposes raising taxes.)

There is, by the way, no way to pay for extra aid for Milwaukee County or Wisconsin counties in general other than cutting state programs or raising state taxes. Walker cannot credibly reply that additional state aid for Milwaukee--or for all Wisconsin counties—is available from normal growth in state revenues.

As a candidate for governor, he should know by now that normal levels of growth in existing state programs, such as K-12 school aids, Medicaid and BadgerCare, and the prison system, will use up all available growth in state revenue. The only way to pay for more aid for Milwaukee County or Wisconsin’s counties in general is to cut existing state programs or raise taxes.

And now we come to the final questions that Scott Walker needs to answer.

He was elected in 2002, and re-elected in 2004, on a platform of fixing Milwaukee County’s fiscal mess without raising taxes.

He clearly hasn’t fixed the county’s fiscal crisis, as story after story—including today’s story of pending bankruptcy—makes clear. Each month, each year, the crisis in fact gets worse.

So, a final question:

Why does Walker think that a politician who was elected to solve the financial crisis of a single county, but who now acknowledges that under his direction the county is moving rapidly towards bankruptcy, ought to be promoted to lead the entire state?

---

Others weigh in:

Cory Liebmann of Eye on Wisconsin: Walker to Doyle: "Save me, save me."

Ed Garvey: Is he nuts?