Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker should have the opportunity to complete his term. Credit: Associated Press

No governor in recent memory has been so controversial. No governor in America is so polarizing. Everyone has an opinion about Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin.

Here's ours: We see no reason to remove Walker from office. We recommend him in the June 5 recall election.

Walker's rematch with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett was prompted by one issue: Walker's tough stance with the state's public-employee unions. It's inconceivable that the recall election would be occurring absent that. And a disagreement over a single policy is simply not enough to justify a vote against the governor.

A Marquette Law School Poll in January showed that many people in the Badger State agree. In that poll, 72% of Republicans, 44% of independents and 17% of Democrats said recalls should be limited to criminal wrongdoing. Republican state Rep. Robin Vos has proposed tightening the recall mechanism; he should continue to push for that after the election, regardless of who wins.

Walker brought some of this animosity on himself. He chose an in-your-face style from the start. To his credit, the governor now acknowledges that he did a poor job of building support for his policies. "The one thing if I could go back in time is I would try to spend a little bit more time building the case," he told the Editorial Board earlier this year.

Whether any amount of explaining would have made a difference is questionable considering the breadth of Walker's vision. We think his limits on collective bargaining went too far. We think Republicans generally took an unfortunate sharp turn to the right on social issues. That led to bills in the Legislature promoting abstinence-only education, limiting women's health options and creating a concealed-carry law with insufficient training requirements.

At the same time, legislators couldn't build consensus on far more important legislation, including a bill to allow additional mining in northern Wisconsin and another to create a pool of funds for promising start-up companies. Both bills were casualties of legislative arrogance by the party Walker leads.

Walker came to office promising that 250,000 new private-sector jobs would be created on his watch. But even considering the more favorable statistics released by the Walker administration last week, job creation has been sluggish.

There are several possible reasons for this: 1) Walker overpromised, forgetting that there is only so much that any one politician can do to promote private-sector job growth; 2) the political turmoil in the state is inhibiting job creation (Walker's argument); or 3) Walker's policies are killing job growth (Democrats' argument).

We think choices 1 and 2 are the most likely reasons. Walker's policies simply haven't been in place long enough to know whether they are to blame. Our view is that global trends, including the turmoil in Europe, have much more to do with whether Wisconsin's companies succeed than the policies of a single politician. We also believe that, at the margins, the yearlong tantrum over Walker has been harmful.

To his credit, Walker has helped to right the state's finances with a minimum of gimmicks - the governor reported recently that the state may be able to book a $154 million surplus next year. This good news has been lost in the clutter surrounding an unnecessary recall election that will cost as much as $18 million just to stage, according to the Government Accountability Board.

The governor also has made a good-faith attempt to shore up the state's economic development efforts through the creation of a public-private entity to head up those efforts, through reform of the state's tort laws, through a series of business tax breaks and by improving Wisconsin's image with business leaders outside the state.

And while we think Act 10 - the law that clipped the wings of most public-employee unions in the state - was an overreach of political power, we understand and supported the need to rein in the state's labor costs. Municipalities and school districts as well as the state needed more control over their budgets, which Act 10 provided.

But Walker's zeal to give governments more control over their destinies was, we believe, matched only by his zeal to deal a harsh blow to a key Democratic constituency. That has made him a national hero to Republicans.

Democrats claim the recall election is about far more than Act 10. The most serious of the charges on their bill of particulars is the ongoing John Doe investigation being conducted by the Milwaukee County district attorney's office. The investigation, which has been going on for nearly two years, has looked into a variety of activities during the time Walker was county executive. Prosecutors have charged three ex-Walker aides and two others; more charges may be coming. Walker has set up a legal-defense fund.

But the governor has insisted that he is not a target of the investigation and that he is cooperating. While the investigation surely is troubling, no evidence revealed so far implicates Walker. Overzealous political associates sometimes get in trouble. The John Doe probe doesn't justify a vote against the governor.

As for Barrett, we think he has been a good steward of Wisconsin's largest city. Taxes and fees are up, but that's hardly unreasonable given the depth of the budget restraints. Services remain solid. Barrett and his team have helped shepherd new development in the Menomonee Valley, downtown and in the neighborhoods. The mayor has helped heal the often raw relationship between Milwaukee and its suburbs.

But as a leader, the mayor can be tentative and slow to act. While building consensus is admirable - the opposite of the approach Walker often takes - the mayor can be risk-averse to a fault. One example: He has been slow to articulate a vision for economic development in the city and to develop a strategic economic plan for Milwaukee that dovetails with regional efforts.

On the campaign trail, Walker has tried to blame rising taxes and poor job growth in Milwaukee on Barrett. In a campaign stop last week, Walker said that people do not want to see Wisconsin "become another Milwaukee."

But Walker's attacks on the state's largest city are overblown and divisive. He forgets to mention the fallout from the worst recession in 80 years or his own responsibility in cutting state shared revenue. Or the fact that he was Milwaukee County executive during the downturn.

Strip away such purple rhetoric, and you find that Barrett, like Walker, is a capable and honorable public servant. But this election isn't about Tom Barrett. It's about Scott Walker.

Even if you disagree with Walker's policies, does that justify cutting short his term as governor? And if so, where does such logic lead? To more recall elections? More turmoil?

It's time to end the bickering and get back to the business of the state. We've had our differences with the governor, but he deserves a chance to complete his term. We recommended him in 2010. We see no reason to change that recommendation. We urge voters to support Walker in the June 5 recall election.

Whom do you favor in the gubernatorial recall election and why? To be considered for publication as a letter to the editor, e-mail your opinion to the Journal Sentinel editorial department.