Thread: Scott Walker leads tight GOP pack in new Iowa Poll

Grover Norquist: Scott Walker Good Choice for 2016

Sunday, 23 Nov 2014 10:50 PM
By Greg Richter

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker bears striking similarities to former President Calvin Coolidge, making him a strong GOP candidate for president in 2016, says political operative Grover Norquist.

In an opinion piece for Reuters, Norquist and Patrick Gleason, both of Americans for Tax Reform, say Walker's fight against public unions and advocacy for lower taxes mirror Coolidge's own background.

Coolidge, who was president from 1923 to 1929, would be "a smart model for the party," the two wrote. "He reined in spending and reduced tax rates at a time when it was as needed as it is today. President Ronald Reagan admired Coolidge so much that he hung a portrait of the 30th president in his Cabinet Room."

When Coolidge was governor of Massachusetts in 1919, he stood up to the police unions and ended a police strike in Boston.

"He offered a sharp contrast to then-President Woodrow Wilson, silent and timid on an issue of national importance," Norquist and Gleason write.

Similarly, Walker came onto the national scene in 2011 when he took on the state's government-employee unions. He limited collective-bargaining for the unions as part of his budget-repair plan, sparking riots at the state Capitol and a recall election, which he won.

Coolidge and Walker also share a belief in limited government. Norquist and Gleason write that it was Coolidge's limited government that sparked the prosperity of the 1920s.

America's gross national product rose 4.2 percent a year from 1920 to 1929, the duo writes. "This is impressive growth by 19th-, 20th-and 21st-century standards."

Coolidge cut federal tax rates during his presidential term, and Walker has done the same in Wisconsin.

The top tax rate was cut from 73 percent to 46 percent n 1924 and was reduced to 24 percent before Coolidge left office, the op-ed points out. Walker has said he wants to cut state income tax rates even further in his second term.

"Coolidge’s record and how it compares to what Walker has done in Wisconsin make a strong case for his name to be on the short list of GOP contenders," Norquist and Gleason write.

Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/walk...#ixzz3Qcm9de7U

Americans for Tax Reform

Follow the money in the Koch wiki.

Learn more about corporations VOTING to rewrite our laws.

Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is an anti-tax lobbying group founded in 1985 by Grover Norquist, whom the New York Times has called "one of the Republican Party's most influential policy strategists."^[1] ATR has close ties to the Republican Party and has frequently allied itself with the tobacco industry.

ATR describes itself as a group that "believes in a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today. The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized."^[2]

Koch Wiki

The Koch brothers -- David and Charles -- are the right-wing billionaire co-owners of Koch Industries. As two of the richest people in the world, they are key funders of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on the Kochs include: Koch Brothers,Koch Industries, Americans for Prosperity, American Encore, and Freedom Partners. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php...for_Tax_Reform

July 03, 2013, 03:05 pmGov. Walker backs citizenship pathway for illegal immigrants

By Daniel Strauss
808328

165
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) says he supports a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally as part of an overhaul of the nation's immigration system.

"If people want to come here and work hard and benefit, I don't care whether they come from Mexico or Ireland or Germany or Canada or South Africa or anywhere else," Walker said Tuesday during an interview with the Daily Herald Media Editorial Board of Wisconsin. "I want them here."

Walker was then asked about the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally. The editorial board asked if he could "envision a world where with the right penalties and waiting periods and meet the requirements where those people could get citizenship?"

"Sure," Walker responded. "I mean I think it makes sense."

Walker's comments came roughly a week after the Democratic-controlled Senate passed a bipartisan immigration reform proposal that includes a pathway to citizenship.

The proposal strengthens border security along the U.S.-Mexico border by doubling the length of fencing across the border and also doubling the number of border patrol agents. Walker said he had not fully reviewed the Senate bill and has not taken a position on the legislation.
Walker's comments separate him from some conservative House lawmakers who have said they cannot support the Senate immigration reform bill because it includes a pathway to citizenship.

"Not only do they need to fix things for people already here, or find some way to do it, there's got to be a larger way to fix the system in the first place," Walker said. "Because if it wasn't so cumbersome, if there wasn't such a long wait, if it wasn't so difficult to get in, we wouldn't have the other problems that we have" of immigrants living in the country illegally.

Walker is not the only prominent Wisconsin Republican to support immigration reform. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has also called for his chamber to pass an immigration overhaul. Ryan recently said the Senate bill's enhanced border security measures make the proposal more likely to pass the House.

"I think that, that passing makes this final passage more likely," Ryan said in late June.

http:thehill.com/blog-briefing-room/news/309111-wis-gov-walker-backs-path-to-citizenship-in-immigration-reform-

1. Patrick Gleason « The Joy of Tax Law
   
   joyoftaxlaw.com/tag/patrick-gleason/
   
   Aug 9, 2013 - Posts about Patrick Gleason written by George John. ... The legislation is based mainly on Republican ideals – a flat tax, simplified code, fewer ...