Scott Walker Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Scott Walker
OCCUPATION: U.S. Governor
BIRTH DATE: November 02, 1967 (Age: 45)
EDUCATION: Marquette University
PLACE OF BIRTH: Colorado Springs, Colorado
AKA: Scott Walker
Full Name: Scott Kevin Walker
ZODIAC SIGN: Scorpio

Best Known For

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is best known for his controversial 2011 budget proposal, in which he wanted to eliminate most collective bargaining rights for Wisconsin state employees. Walker is also the first governor in U.S. history to win a recall election.

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Scott Kevin Walker

APA Style

Scott Kevin Walker. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 05:04, May 24, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/scott-walker-20941829.

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Scott Kevin Walker. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/scott-walker-20941829 [Accessed 24 May 2013].

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"Scott Kevin Walker." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 24 2013, 05:04 http://www.biography.com/people/scott-walker-20941829.

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"Scott Kevin Walker," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/scott-walker-20941829 [accessed May 24, 2013].

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"Scott Kevin Walker," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/scott-walker-20941829 (accessed May 24, 2013).

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Scott Kevin Walker [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 24] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/scott-walker-20941829.

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Scott Kevin Walker, http://www.biography.com/people/scott-walker-20941829 (last visited May 24, 2013).

AMA Style

Scott Kevin Walker. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/scott-walker-20941829. Accessed May 24, 2013.

Synopsis

Scott Walker was born on November 2, 1967. He became interested in politics as a teenager, attended, but did not graduate, college and worked in fundraising for several years. By the age of 25, he was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly and quickly moved up the ranks, serving as a Milwaukee County executive and the state's governor. His fiscal conservatism launched him into the national spotlight in 2011,

Quotes

"I have to fulfill my commitment to the voters of the state of Wisconsin."

– Scott Walker

when he proposed eliminating most collective bargaining rights for state workers. Some Wisconsin residents demanded a recall election, which Walker won, making him the first governor in U.S. history to survive a recall election. He was also eyed as a potential running mate for presumtive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romeny, but turned down the possibility in June 2012.

Early Life

Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Kevin Walker has had a penchant for politics since his high schools days. He was born on November 2, 1967 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to bookkeeper mother Patricia Ann and Baptist minister Llewellyn Scott Walker, who later moved the family to a small town in Wisconsin.

Walker, an Eagle Scout, first exhibited his interest in politics in high school, when he attended a two-week American Legion-sponsored leadership and government training event: He was selected as one of two boys to represent Wisconsin in the nation's capital for the Boys Nation (after graduating from Badger Boys State), and while in Washington, D.C., Walker met Ronald Reagan, who he said inspired him and became his role model.

Although Walker attended Marquette University for four years, he did not graduate; he left school early to work for the American Red Cross from 1990 to 1994.

Political Beginnings

At the age of 25, Walker ran for and won a seat on the Wisconsin State Assembly, receiving endorsements from Wisconsin Right to Life and The Milwaukee Sentinel, which made note that he was a fiscal conservative with pro-life and pro-welfare reform positions. He was re-elected to that seat four times until he became executive of Milwaukee County in 2002, as the result of a special election. He was re-elected as county executive twice, in 2004 and 2008.

As he had done when running for his Assembly seat, Walker, a married father of two, used a fiscal conservatism platform in his run for the county executive seat. Similarly, when he ran for the Wisconsin governorship, his campaign included themes of reduced taxes and spending. On Walker's 43rd birthday—November 2, 2010—he won the general election for the state governor seat, defeating Democrat Tom Barrett.

Collective Bargaining Controversy

In Walker's 2011 budget repair bill, he proposed eliminating most collective-bargaining rights, except wages—a proposal that met with such heated protest that it launched Walker onto the national political scene. In essence, he "lit the fuse" of 2011 nationwide union protests, according to nonprofit investigative news organization Mother Jones.

The controversy caused tension among party lines and throughout the entire state of Wisconsin.