Re-election bid

In winning the county executive job in 2002, Walker had promised that he would serve only one full term, after finishing the last two years of Tom Ament’s term. Given that promise, he shouldn’t have even been on the ballot in 2008.

Asked about his future after exiting the governor’s race, Walker told reporters he’d consider running anywhere there was a leadership gap.

How about GOP Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner’s seat?

Sensenbrenner, joshed Walker, “has

looked like he’s needed to retire physically for the last 20 years.”

Walker tried backtracking but got in deeper, saying, “the only way (Sensenbrenner) is leaving the House is in a wooden box.”

This was an out-ofcharacter episode.

Walker rarely jested in public and never gossiped with reporters. He was cordial and put people at ease, but wasn’t the backslapping or storytelling type.

Such discipline “required an amazing level of calculation and evaluation,” said one of Walker’s department heads, Don Natzke. And it worked. Walker said he still had work to do cleaning up the county, so he was seeking another term.

But with his sights set on higher office, he wanted a convincing re-election win to keep up his momentum.

His foe this time: firebrand state Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee), a liberal African-American lawyer.

Walker was vulnerable on several issues.

Security lapses, bad management, poor employee morale and crowded conditions marked the county House of Correction in Franklin and a downtown work-release center. In another episode, a raft of pension overpayments was discovered.

At the time, researchers at Milwaukee’s Public Policy Forum were preparing a damning report card that said longterm county solvency was “questionable at best.”

All the Band-Aid budgeting had staved off a crisis, but services cuts were indiscriminate, reserves depleted, the Forum reported. Longterm debt had jumped as pension and health costs soared.

Taylor received AFSCME backing but couldn’t persuade the state teachers union to go after Walker.

In 24 face-to-face forums with Taylor, Walker stuck to the Ronald Reagan blueprint — keep it simple, repeat it often — and asked voters for more time to fix the county.

In the end, Walker gained ground in the suburbs, pulling 7 in 10 votes. He lost his edge in the city of Milwaukee, but still managed 47%.

Countywide, it was his most dominating win yet, with 59%.

All set up for another run at Madison.