MADISON (WKOW) -
A politician who has used the word "stubborn" to describe himself on numerous occasions, some feel Gov. Scott Walker may have to swallow some pride in his state-of-the-state address Wednesday night.
"Walker hasn't shown himself to be that kind of politician up to now," said Jay Heck, Executive Director of the non-partisan political lobbying group Wisconsin Common Cause. "But if he wants to change the current dynamic, he does have the opportunity to change so I think its largely up to him."
Assembly Minority Leader Rep. Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) agreed the Governor should use the speech as an opportunity to heal the divide caused by last year's battle over collective bargaining rights for state workers.
"I mean I would hope that he would try to do that, but I'm not overly optimistic that he will though, frankly, because up until this point we have just seen no evidence of his doing that, so, it will be interesting to see," said Rep. Barca.
While we don't quite know what the tone of the speech will be, we do have the Governor's talking points.
His staff put out a release stating that the Governor will highlight how the state has gained jobs and seen its unemployment rate go down in the last year, how he fixed a $3.6 billion budget deficit and how he lowered property taxes.
Democrats say that message would be misleading, because the state has lost jobs over the past six months.
As for those fixes to the budget, Rep. Barca said it was done at the expense of causing huge divisions in the state.
"If he goes with his campaign rhetoric and uses this as a methodology to do that sort of cheerleading that he's doing in the campaign, that its working, that people should be very happy with where the state's at, in my judgement that's really more of a polarizing message again," said Rep. Barca.
Jay Heck said a more humble approach would likely appeal to some independent voters.
"Otherwise, he may win the recall election, but he will be the Governor that has just a narrow mandate and that will really cripple his governing," said Heck.
The Governor only spoke for 30 minutes in last year's state of the state.
This speech is expected to be even shorter, clocking in at just over 24 minutes according to the Governor's spokesperson, Cullen Werwie.
