FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Rep. Jonathan Brostoff, (608) 266-0650

MADISON – State Representative Jonathan Brostoff (D-Milwaukee) has taken a highly skeptical position on the messages put forth by the governor in today’s State of the State address.

“Governor Walker’s State of the State address follows a year of political failures for the Repubs and a month of desperate flip-flopping attempt to regain support leading into the 2018 election,” said Brostoff. “His speech reflected this desperation as he tried to distance himself from the Trump-Walker agenda, a platform which ignored the real needs of Wisconsin families and has been rejected by Wisconsinites in the recent special elections.

“Now, Walker is stealing Democratic ideas – ideas he previously ignored but now recognizes to be popular – in order to bolster support in his bid for re-election. This includes a tepid reversal on his long campaign against President Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA).

“In addition, the governor has shifted 180° with his stance on the Lincoln Hills youth correctional facility crisis. Six years of reports of sexual assaults, physical and emotional abuse, and other gross mistreatment of both the youth held at Lincoln Hills and the staff working for them were ignored by Walker. While myself and other Dem legislators visited Lincoln Hills and proposed shutting it down in favor of multiple, smaller correctional schools around the state, Walker never made a single visit. Instead, he continued to deny that there were any issues as recently as 2017. Finally, he proposed a plan identical to the Democrats’ for resolving the Lincoln Hills problem.

“Most strikingly, Walker is now backing away from his own designs for the state’s future. The Fox Con, Walker’s last ditch campaign move, was recently estimated to cost Wisconsin taxpayers $4.5 billion. This is money that could be put towards public schools, strengthening the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin technical college systems, significant improvements to state healthcare, roadwork, and countless other projects aimed at benefiting Wisconsinites. Instead, the deal, touted under the GOP’s singular message of job creation in a state with one of the nation’s lowest unemployment rates (3.4%), will line the pockets of a Taiwanese billionaire while causing untold damage to the state’s wetlands and waterways.

“Walker’s weak ideals and lack of values have plagued our state for long enough. The best ideas he’s had as Governor all came in the last month and all from Democrats. Wouldn’t it be more effective if we just cut out the middle man?”

 

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