In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker accuses big government union leaders of intimidation, saying they are trying to “take me out.”
Walker says if he is recalled as governor on June 5, “I think it sets aside any kind of courage in American politics for at least a decade, if not a generation.”
The Brody File spoke with Gov. Walker at his executive residence in Madison, Wis., this past Sunday afternoon for about an hour. We are releasing a few of the video clips from the interview. More will be released on "The Brody File Show" later this week, and a full story will air on "The 700 Club" in the next couple weeks.
Mandatory Courtesy: CBN News/The Brody File.
Watch his comments below with the full transcription.
David Brody: How important is your victory on June 5 as it relates to the Tea Party movement? There are going to be a lot of folks that say look, if you lose, they're going to say we took down a Tea Party guy who tried to do his Tea Party agenda,< and we took him down. What will it say about the Tea Party if you actually win on June 5?
Gov. Scott Walker: I think it goes even beyond, even more fundamental than that. What I think it does is when we prevail it sends a powerful, powerful message not just here in my statehouse, but in Springfield, in Columbus, in Albany, and Austin and Tallahassee, and state houses all across America, and equally if not more so, it says to Washington D.C. and people like my friend Paul Ryan and others who are trying to tackle tough issues as well, it sends a powerful message that voters are saying, 'Yeah, we do want leaders to stand up and do the right thing. We do want them to tackle the tough issues.'
Conversely, God help us if we fail, I think it sets aside any kind of courage in American politics for at least a decade, if not a generation and that's why I say all the time, that's why we can't fail.
What I have heard for years are voters saying to me, I get sick and tired of these people getting elected to office and then when they get there, they don't have the courage, they don't have the guts to take on these issues. I think people are hungry for leadership, not just Republican leadership, or Democrat leadership, they're just hungry for leadership. And that's what we've tried to provide.
I think its intimidation. I think it's flat out about intimidation. I think you see in Washington D.C., you see the national big government union leaders are looking at this and saying, last year, they spent tens of millions of dollars trying to take out the State Senate Wisconsin. They’re going to be part of an effort that some say may spend $70-80 million in this state for governor. That’s insane.
And yet, I think what they clearly want to show is that if they win, they can take me out, and if they can take me out, they can take anybody out. And again, it's not just about Republicans, I mean there are plenty of other Democrats across this country.
You had the state treasurer, a Democrat in Rhode Island who worked with the governor to try and change pensions. You’ve got Andrew Cuomo talking in New York about changing things. You’ve got Jerry Brown in California talking about pension reform. You’ve got Rahm Emmanuel in Chicago talking about challenging the education bureaucracy down there. In every one of those cases, I think it is one of those tipping points, not just here in Wisconsin, but in America, where we say who is really in charge?
Do we want people who stand up with the hard working American people who pay taxes making decisions at the local and the state level by people who are duly elected by the citizens at that jurisdiction? Or do we want a handful of big government union bosses continuing to call the shots?
And that, to me, is really what it’s about.