By: Josh Schoemann
More than a decade ago, Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans championed a new era of conservative reform culminating in Act 10. Act 10 brought about unprecedented savings for local governments, giving us new tools to manage our budgets and putting taxpayers first. Now, in this new era of political lawfare, liberal groups are weaponizing our court system in Dane County to undo these reforms and take us backward to when your elected representatives didn’t control budgets, taxpayer funded unions did. Conservatives can not sit on our hands and allow this to happen. We must fight back, and help Brad Schimel flip the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Act 10 helped to fundamentally shape how we think about running government. Instead of siloed and duplicative efforts, we saw local government units working together to help save money. At the time, I worked for the Village of Richfield, and we were able to start partnering with local municipalities to share services that would have otherwise been limited by union contracts and the old way of thinking. Our increased flexibility helped our budgets and kept money where it belongs, with taxpayers.
While some say Act 10 hurt our public employees, the exact opposite is true in Washington County. When I started in Washington County, we saw several years of pay freezes. After Act 10, we were able to transform the way we compensate people, giving raises based on merit instead of years served. We’re able to incentivize people growing within their jobs and rewarding them for their hard work.
Even though liberals hit the alarm bells and said that our schools would crumble, research shows that our educators and students are also seeing benefits from Act 10. Research shows that merit-based pay for teachers helped good teachers earn more and work for districts who rewarded high performance. Class sizes didn’t increase and student achievement wasn’t negatively affected, by some measurements student achievement even improved.
Washington County’s years of successes were made possible by Act 10 and the mindset change that came with it. Going back to what it was like before is unacceptable for taxpayers. Since it was passed, Act 10 has saved taxpayers $31 Billion. If the Dane County ruling is allowed to stand, it will cost taxpayers $2.1 billion per year–meaning Wisconsin households will be on the hook for an additional $860 per year on average.
We must get Brad Schimel across the finish line. Not because we know he will rule a certain way, but because we know he is a jurist who will base his opinions on the law. Our new liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court has proved time and again that they base their opinions on political whim instead of the rule of law.
Conservatives need to organize at the local level for Judge Schimel to be successful. There are plenty of ways to get involved– you can collect nomination signatures, knock doors, distribute literature, and donate. If the last Supreme Court race taught us anything, it’s that the left will stop at nothing to get their candidate across the finish line. It’s imperative that conservatives do the same.
