STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAU) — The Governor’s budget proposal has been evaluated by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, and the numbers are not that bad. That’s according to Portage County Republican Party Chairman Patrick Testin.
Testin says for weeks, we’ve been hearing Democrats claim Scott Walker’s budget has a huge deficit. He says the Legislative Fiscal Bureau doesn’t predict a deficit at all. “Their scorecard on the state budget, as it is currently written, it will leave our state with a surplus, which is a far cry from what the Democrats have said.”
The party chairman does expect changes will be made to what the Governor proposed. “No budget is perfect, and there will likely be some tweaks in the State Senate and the Assembly, so I think we’re just going to have to wait and see what those bodies come up with, but as it stands right now, it’s not doom and gloom as we’ve been told by the Democrats in the Senate and the Assembly.”
Testin believes the Republicans he has talked to will work to make budget changes in two big areas. “There have been some topics of discussion that have come up, and I think probably one of the biggest areas that we may see going forward is going to be the transportation aspect of the budget, as well as the UW System funds.
On the Right to Work issue, Testin says he supports it. His father is a union corrections officer in Michigan, and he understands their concerns but says Right to Work does not take away bargaining. “This proposal does not take away collective bargaining rights for members of the union. What this does, and what this allows is for freedom within the workplace, for employees to choose whether or not they want to associate with the union, and ultimately, I think this is going to be good for the unions, because it’s going to make them go out and compete and prove their value for their members.
Testin says the legislators he has talked with all support Right to Work and plan to vote for it in the Assembly Thursday. They tell him it’s the right time and the right thing for our state.
(Listen to our interview with Patrick Testin on our website, here.)
