AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE UNINTIMIDATED: A CONVERSATION WITH GOVERNOR SCOTT WALKER SPEAKER: SCOTT WALKER, GOVERNOR OF WISCONSIN MODERATOR: MARC A. THIESSEN, AEI 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21ST, 2013 EVENT PAGE: http://www.aei.org/events/2013/11/21/unintimidated-a- conversation-with-governor-scott-walker/ TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED BY: DC Transcription – www.dctmr.com MARC THIESSEN: Good afternoon. Welcome to AEI. My name is Marc Thiessen. I’m a fellow here at the American Enterprise Institute. And most recently, I had the privilege of collaborating with Governor Scott Walker on his new book, “Unintimidated,” so we’re very glad that you’re here today. A couple of housekeeping notes I’ve been asked to pass on before we begin: After our discussion, Governor Walker will sign copies of his book here in this room, which can be purchased at the vendor’s booth set out in the hallway. After the book signing, we’ll kick off our panel discussion with Steve Hayes from the “Weekly Standard” and Bob Costa from “National Review,” who are both here. Governor Walker is hoping to sign as many books as possible. So it’s crucial we transition to the book signing in an orderly fashion. So after – and then after the Q&A, AEI staff will help those of you who’d like to have your book signed form a queue down the center aisle of the room, where the yellow tape is over there. If you’re not getting a book signed, please avoid the center aisle and use the aisles if you wish to exit. OK, now our housekeeping’s done. So in the course of the last year, I had a unique opportunity to see Scott Walker up close. I spent dozens of hours with him, with his staff, getting to know his family; his wonderful wife, Tonette, who’s here; and the team that he assembled in Wisconsin to lead that state, which is just remarkable. And we skyped for half a year every Sunday, sometimes for two or three hours at a time to – and so I got a real insight into this man, going over drafts of the book, discussing what he accomplished in Wisconsin, the lessons he learned; the mistakes he made, which he’s very candid about in this book; and what those lessons are for a conservative comeback nationally – what we can learn from what he did in Wisconsin, what he did right, what he did wrong. And when the book was finished – I was just saying this at a lunch we just had – I told him that I came into this process as an admirer, and I finished it a true believer. I think that he is a remarkable politician. And I could spend a long time here telling you why, but I’ll give you just a couple of reasons why that is. First of all, Scott Walker has a spine of steel. There is nothing that fazes him. And I want – just a figure to put that in perspective for you. There were 100,000 people protesting at the Wisconsin State Capitol. When the Packers won the Super Bowl, 56,000 people came out to Lambeau Field to celebrate. So double that number of people outside and inside the Capitol, chanting his name – not in a good way. And he was followed – you know, for events around the state. They – I mean, imagine having to walk through your own Capitol with a phalanx of state troopers in a flying-wedge formation. He said he felt like – he knew what it was like to be a Green Bay Packer for the first time. Protesters following him everywhere, camping outside of your home. At one point, they even surrounded his car and shook the vehicle while he was in it. And the pressure here was enormous, and he didn’t falter under it. And I don’t think there’re a lot of people who would have stood up. I mean, the polls showed that if when – at the height of this, his popularity dropped down to 37 percent. The polls showed that just a few months after the election, if he had run again that day and the election were held that day, he would have lost by like 13 points. He was so confident in his reforms and what – that they would work and that people would come around and see that, that he just never – never for a moment even considered backing down, which I think is very rare in politics today. He did that all without abandoning his principles or moving to the center. He was a man who believes in certain things and is willing to fight for them and it’s not just on collective bargaining. There’s a chapter in the book where he talks about all the other things that were accomplished that no one noticed because of the collective bargaining fight, but these conservative reforms on everything from economics to entitlement reform and all the rest. So he’s a – not just a principled and courageous leader, but a full spectrum conservative. And he’s a proven winner. The unions spent millions and millions of dollars to push him out of office and make an example of him. And when the dust had settled and the recall election was done, he won with a – not only did he become the first governor in American history to win a recall election; he won with a larger percentage of the vote than in his initial election. That’s a remarkable thing. And finally, he’s just an incredibly decent man. The things that were said about him, the signs comparing him to Hitler and Osama bin Laden. “Time” Magazine had a story where they talked about when the (protests would leave?), how they were – the workers were washing off the chalk drawings on the floor with his name in it – dead body – you know, portraying a dead body, He never responded in kind. I think you go through the transcripts of everything he said during that fight, not once will you hear a single thing that he said negative about the public workers and the protesters outside. He was unfailingly positive. And I remember we talked about this and I asked you why that was, and what you told me was, my kids – that I wanted to set an example for my children that you can be true to your principles and be decent at the same time. And I think that’s a remarkable achievement. So I think – if I would summarize Scott Walker, it would be tough, smart, principled, decent, and someone who knows how to win, which is something we conservatives really are looking for. So without further ado, I give you governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker. (Applause.) GOVERNOR SCOTT WALKER (R-WI): Thank you. Of course, first off, thank you all for coming and thanks to AEI for hosting this. And most of all, thanks to Marc not only for moderating this, but for helping me write this book. It was real important for me to put Marc’s name up on the front along with mine because he really, really got to know me and Tonette and our family, my team, both my official office, my political team, and know the people of the state of Wisconsin, which was really important. In addition, I wanted, unlike some politicians who get a ghostwriter and pretend that they wrote the book, I wanted the people in my state to know I was their governor throughout the week, that I wasn’t off writing a book all the time – that it really was as Marc mentioned. We spent the time on Sunday skyping, which is, you know, just even from a few years ago interesting to think how things change, but I got to know him and understand that he really shared the vigor for our reform that we’re going to talk about that is clearly articulated in the book. I’ve also got to tell you, it’s kind of fun having this microphone on. It feels like – Tonette, over the years we go to the state fair, and I feel like I should be doing one of those Ginsu knife set things behind the – (inaudible) – with this microphone on. (Laughter.) And she’s going to point – and she’s going to point out that Hayes, who’s going to be on the panel later, always gets me to eat goofy things at the Wisconsin State Fair as well, not the least of which was Krispy Kreme cheeseburgers. Don’t ever eat those, bad idea. (Laughter.) But on the book, the – you know, it’s interesting. One of the things you, Marc, you just said brought to mind a story we tell about in the book about our sons and just kind of putting things in perspective. About two years ago at this time, late in November of 2011, the protests and all that had happened earlier in the year, we’ll touch on that in a moment. And then, we’d gone through, were successful, finally got it passed, went through court challenges. Things were starting to brew up a little bit for the beginning of getting the signatures for the recall, which ultimately was held June of 2012. But this one Sunday afternoon, our home – both of our kids, my first year in office, were both still in high school. They’re now both in college, but both were at Wauwatosa East High School, which is just outside of Milwaukee.