A letter signed by Walker that appeared in the ceremony program read, in part: "The state of Wisconsin is open to everyone — businesses, leaders, skilled workers, families and people of every racial background and ethnicity — anyone willing to take the first step to which Dr. King referred and to move Wisconsin forward."

The ceremony, now in its 32nd year, is the longest-running statehouse celebration of King in the country, said emcee Jonathan Overby, a Wisconsin Public Radio host whose nonprofit company produces the event for the state. The Capitol ceremony was followed by a Madison and Dane County celebration Monday night featuring a keynote speech by the Rev. C.T. Vivian, national vice president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

In an interview prior to the ceremony, Overby stressed the nonpartisan intent of the Capitol ceremony. "This is a time to set our political swords aside."

Yet Walker critics said it would have been an insult to King's legacy to ignore his anti-poverty and pro-union work at a time when Wisconsin is split politically over such issues as the ability of public sector workers to collectively bargain. King was shot to death April 4, 1968, while in Memphis to support sanitation workers trying to organize a union for safer working conditions.