'We need to have a good strong relationship between labor and management,' McKenna said.| AP GOP candidate: 'I'm not Scott Walker'

Not every Republican is embracing Wisconsin’s polarizing governor ahead of his historic recall election.

In Washington state, the presumptive GOP nominee for governor recently assured a local union that he’s “ not Scott Walker,” according to audio provided to POLITICO by a Democratic strategist.


Rob McKenna, the two-term attorney general who is aiming to become the Evergreen State’s first Republican governor in more than 30 years, told a gathering of Puget Sound Carpenters last week that he’ll strive for a “positive relationship between labor and management,” even lamenting the agenda pursued by Walker.

“We need to have a good strong relationship between labor and management in this state,” McKenna said at the April 11 meeting, according to the audio that was secretly recorded. “Now unfortunately because of a couple of governors — particularly Scott Walker — everyone thinks that someone who’s going to be a Republican governor, they’re going to be Scott Walker. I’m not Scott Walker. This is not Wisconsin. This is Washington state.”

The comments represent the private political discomfort some Republicans campaigning in blue states harbor over Walker’s strident anti-labor policies, particularly his aggressive rollback of collective bargaining for public-sector unions.

While McKenna is in a somewhat unique position running in a deep blue state, his decision to distance himself from Walker is notable, especially as national Republicans rally to Walker’s aid ahead of the June 8 recall.

McKenna has previously stressed his desire to work with unions in public, but this speech represents the most direct and stark break with the embattled first-term Walker.

“Washington State has a strong tradition of a positive relationship — positive working relationship between labor and management, whether in the private sector or the public sector. It needs to continue to be that way. I’m not interested in upsetting something that’s been working pretty well for us,” McKenna said, stressing he’ll be a “tough but fair” negotiator. “I recognize that as governor, my job is to sit on the other side of the table from the public sector unions and negotiate effectively on behalf of all the taxpayers of the state, including all of you.”

A McKenna spokesman noted that the candidate simply reinforced the points that he’s been making publicly since last year when the state Democratic Party attempted to link McKenna to Walker.

The party purchased a full-page newspaper advertisement in The Olympian that blared, “If you like what Governor Scott Walker is doing in Wisconsin, you will love Rob McKenna as Washington State’s Governor.”

While the ad cites “anti-union legislation … to reject existing union contracts with state employees,” it fails to point to any evidence that McKenna is supportive of the bill.

“Rob generally includes — but it is seemingly cut from this recording — that public employees are the solution to increasing the performance, while reducing the size, of state government. It’s state workers who know how they can improve what they do if given the ability and motivation to do so. This is what he has seen in the attorney general’s office and he wants to expand that positive culture change throughout state government,” said McKenna spokesman Charles McCray.

Nonetheless, the campaign of likely Washington Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jay Inslee doesn’t seem inclined to let up on pressing the connection between McKenna and Walker anytime soon.

“Rob McKenna has told the tea party, ‘I represent you.’ He called the unionization of state employees ‘dangerous.’ He wants to put working families at risk by privatizing worker’s compensation. He keynoted an [American Legislative Exchange Council] event in Olympia, embracing the same far-right ideology as Scott Walker. The similarities are many, but the biggest difference is that Scott Walker won his race and Rob McKenna won’t,” said Inslee spokeswoman Jaime Smith.