On, Wisconsin!

We will soon know whether Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will remain in the state's highest executive office or Tom Barrett, the Mayor of Milwaukee and who ran against Walker in 2010, will take the reigns.  Only two times in our nation's history as a sitting governor been recalled, with the last being Governor Gray Davis of California in 2003. 

In case you don't know too much about Mayor Barrett, here are some excerpts (via John McCormack) from an in-depth interview in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that sheds some light on the man and his plans once in office:

Barrett has said he doesn't want to raise taxes beyond the levels they were at when Walker took office. He said he would look at undoing some tax cuts passed by Walker, including the business tax cuts mentioned above, since he says they've been ineffective in creating jobs. He said he would consult with businesses to ensure the changes are not unduly harmful, but he has not said which taxes he might raise.

"I'm going to be very mindful of the cost of these because they explode in the out years," Barrett said of Walker's tax cuts.

Barrett has criticized Walker's property tax caps but has not said whether he would loosen them or by how much. The mayor wants to restore tax credits for low-income families that were eliminated by Walker and Republican lawmakers, saying the governor broke his no tax increase pledge to the neediest families.

He has not said where he would get the money to do that.

On Healthcare:

Walker provided about $1.2 billion more in state money over two years for the state's health care programs for the needy. But that wasn't enough to keep pace with rising costs, so the administration also made cuts to the BadgerCare Plus program taking effect July 1. Those cuts will lead to sharply higher premiums for tens of thousands of participants and more than 17,000 leaving the program or being turned away.

Barrett has said that he wants to undo those changes before they take effect. But said he doesn't yet know what changes that would take by lawmakers or where he would get the money.

On Labor issues:

Both Walker and Barrett said that going forward they didn't anticipate raising or lowering the increased amounts that public employees now pay for their pension and health care benefits.

Barrett has said he wants to restore union bargaining for public employees that was repealed by Walker and Republican lawmakers. He said he was focused on that and hadn't considered what to do about cases where the repeal of union bargaining has allowed the state to save on overtime costs or allowed schools to save money by bidding out their health insurance.

 Did I say he had plans?  Sorry.