Scott Walker biography

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, 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.

The state Senate had passed the bill in March 2011, but then went to court, where Judge Maryann Sumi struck it down in May 2011, saying it was void because lawmakers broke open meeting statutes during the approval process. The Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned her ruling on June 14 of that year.

Some Wisconsin residents were so angered by Walker's actions and the controversy they created that they wanted to remove him from office. They demanded a recall election, which they received on June 5, 2012. Walker won the recall election, once again defeating Tom Barrett, and making him the first governor in American history to survive a recall election.

Speculation of Vice Presidency

In the midst of his recall election, Walker shot down speculation that he could be Mitt Romney's vice-presidential pick. Instead, he told FOX Business Network's Neil Cavuto in June 2012 that if Romney were to ask him who would be a good pick from Wisconsin, he would suggest Paul Ryan—who Romney did eventually choose as a running mate. "I am not going through a year and a half of this to then take off," Walker told Cavuto, according to The Huffington Post. "I have to fulfill my commitment to the voters of the state of Wisconsin."