Jason Stein, and Patrick Marley

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Madison — Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday previewed next year's potential re-election pitch, promising to cut university tuition and touting tax and unemployment rates that are lower now than when he took office in 2011.

In his seventh "state of the state" speech, the GOP governor promised to follow up on four years of frozen in-state tuition by making an unspecified cut to the cost of enrollment in the University of Wisconsin System.

Though a Walker aide said the state would make up for the lost tuition money for the university, the governor made no promise of any additional money for the UW System.

Echoing language from President-elect Donald Trump, Walker repeatedly said he was "working and winning" for the state and hinted that he wants to run for a third term next year.

"Are we — you, me, us — better off than we were six years ago? The answer is a resounding yes," Walker said in his 39-minute speech.



Top GOP lawmakers like budget committee co-chairs Rep. John Nygren of Marinette and Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills reacted with caution and some skepticism to the proposed tuition cut.

"I have always favored user fees," Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said. "So, I'm open-minded but I have yet to be persuaded that this is a priority for the Legislature."

Walker didn't say how much he would seek to cut tuition or when he would do so, but spokesman Tom Evenson said: "The tuition cut will be paid for."

If that happens, Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) said he would be open to a tuition cut — a reaction that was more favorable than that of top Republicans. But Barca also cautioned that Walker hadn't provided extra money to help cope with the current tuition freeze.

"The problem has been he's never funded the freeze, so I can't believe he's going to fund a cut," Barca said.

In an unusual move, first lady Tonette Walker spoke alongside the governor, calling for the expanded use of "trauma-informed care" with troubled children. This approach takes young people's past abuse and other struggles into account when working with them.

Wisconsin governors aren't limited in the number of terms they can seek — Tommy Thompson won four gubernatorial elections. But with Walker's approval rating slumping since his unsuccessful run for president, a potential re-election bid could prove challenging.

Democratic Rep. Gordon Hintz of Oshkosh called Walker's remarks a "state of denial" speech, pointing to problems in the state such as a nearly $1 billion two-year shortfall in the road fund to a federal probe of alleged abuses at the state's prison for juveniles.

For his part, Walker pointed to workers in the audience who'd found jobs in recent years, saying that since 2011:

State taxes have been cut by a cumulative total of $4.7 billion. From 2013 to 2018, income tax cuts would total $1,159 in savings over that span for a family with two workers, $85,859 a year in income and two children, according to the state Department of Revenue.

Property taxes are at their lowest levels in Wisconsin since World War II when measured as a percentage of state residents' total income, the governor said, citing figures from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. The alliance found that property taxes now account for about 3.6% of the state's personal income, the lowest percentage since 1945.

More than 50,000 businesses have been created, state Department of Financial Institutions show. PolitiFact Wisconsin has found these figures include operations that don't employ anyone, such as volunteer-run nonprofits, youth sports leagues and limited liability companies set up solely to own property.

The state has invested $18 billion in roads and bridges since Walker took office — about $2 billion more than former Gov. Jim Doyle's administration did during his first six years in office from 2003 to 2009. Those figures don’t account for inflation, however.

Wisconsin's unemployment rate, which was at 4.1% for November, is below the national level of 4.6%. The jobless rate has fallen by more than half over Walker's time in office to its lowest level in more than 15 years, according to federal statistics.

Democrats pushed back on the employment figures, with Hintz saying Wisconsin’s economy ranks 8th in job creation out of 10 Midwest states over the last five years.

The governor said that more than 21,200 able-bodied Food Share participants in the state found work after having gone through mandatory job training to receive their food stamp benefits.

The training program, which is costing $18 million in state money over two years, has also led to 64,200 state residents losing their federally funded benefits after three months because they failed to meet the training and employment requirement.

"We went from a focus on 'jobs, jobs, jobs' to talking about 'workforce, workforce, workforce.' That will be my top priority for 2017 — and beyond," Walker said.

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