Gubernatorial fact checks
Consider this your running scorecard on how the 2018 candidates for governor are faring on our Truth-O-Meter.
We’ll periodically update the latest ratings for Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the Democrats hoping to get the nomination to run against him.
And please let us know if you see something we should fact check: PolitiFact@ journalsentinel.com. The candidates are listed in alphabetical order. The most recent fact checks are listed first.
Tony Evers
State schools superintendent, Madison
Foxconn: Says Wisconsin “could compel” Foxconn to install solar panels that would power 33,000 homes. Mostly False.
Education: Says that despite a recent increase in school funding, Scott Walker “has taken over a billion dollars from the public schools.” Mostly False.
Jobs: “Job creation fell by 70 percent in Wisconsin in 2016” under Scott Walker. Mostly True.
Matt Flynn
Milwaukee lawyer
Wages: Under Scott Walker, “average wages, when adjusted for inflation, are lower today than they were under Jim Doyle.” Half True.
Andy Gronik
Fox Point businessman
Biography: “I’ve lived” in Milwaukee “all 61 years of my life.” Mostly False.
Race: “Black Americans still earn less than
73 percent of what white men make.” Half True.
Foxconn: Wisconsin is “guaranteeing Foxconn almost $3 billion, but Foxconn is not contractually guaranteeing how many full-time employees it will hire, for how long and at what pay.” Half True.
Internet: Says Scott Walker “has taken money away from internet expansion in our state.” Mostly False.
Business: Wisconsin is “dead-last in creating new businesses” for “three years in a row.” Half True.
Mike McCabe
Madison activist
Taxes: “When you look at all the state and local taxes we pay in Wisconsin, the wealthiest 1 percent pay the lowest overall tax rate.” Mostly True.
Mahlon Mitchell
State firefighter union president, Fitchburg
Biography: Says he was “instrumental to passing two (recent) pieces of legislation that were a huge victory for firefighters across the state.” Mostly False.
Biography: “When
@ScottWalker told firefighters we didn’t need to worry about Act 10, we said hell no, we stand with working Wisconsinites everywhere.” Mostly False.
Middle class: Wisconsin has “the fastestshrinking middle class in the country.” Mostly False.
Josh Pade
Kenosha lawyer
No fact checks.
Kelda Roys
Former state representative, Madison
Debate: On participating in a debate for Democratic gubernatorial candidates, Roys initially committed to attend, then withdrew her commitment. (The debate was later canceled). Full Flop.
Spending: In 2011 under Scott Walker, Wisconsin for the first time spent “more on our prison system than we did” on the University of Wisconsin System. Mostly True.
Taxes: “Under Trump’s new tax plan ... 99.8% of Americans” get “not one nickel” in tax cuts. Pants on Fire.
Paul Soglin
Madison mayor
Jobs: Since he and Scott Walker took office in 2011, “60,000 new jobs have been created in this state — 40,000 of them were created in Madison and the Madison area.” False.
Kathleen Vinehout
State senator, Alma
Prisons: Says Wisconsin “doesn’t even give” released prison inmates “a bus ticket to get home.” Mostly False.
Jobs: Under Scott Walker, Wisconsin is “still 16,000 manufacturing jobs lower than we were during the recession.” Mostly True.
Dana Wachs
State representative, Eau Claire
Business: “We are last in the nation in startups — 50th.” True.
Scott Walker
Governor since 2011
Taxes: “Property and income taxes will be lower in 2018 than they were in 2010.” Mostly True.
Employment:
“Our bold reforms have Wisconsin’s unemployment rate down to an all-time LOW of 2.9 percent, and the number of people working at an all-time HIGH!” Half True.
Transportation: “We invested” in our transportation system “$24 billion over eight years. That’s $3 billion more than what former Governor Jim Doyle spent on transportation over the same period of time.” Mostly False.
Madison: Says Paul Soglin took Madison backward — “businesses have left and murders have gone up.” Mostly False.
Foxconn: Says Foxconn didn’t keep a promise to build a plant in Pennsylvania because “Pennsylvania changed governors.” Mostly False.
Business: “We took Wisconsin from the Bottom 10 for business to the Top 10.” Mostly False.
Foxconn: “Foxconn is bringing 13,000 hightech jobs to Wisconsin.” Half True.
Taxes: Tax cuts approved and those proposed in his state budget “will exceed $8 billion by the time the budget is done.” True.
Taxes: “Property taxes are lower right now than they were” in December 2010 on a median-valued home in Wisconsin. Mostly True.
Education: “We are investing more money into education than ever before in the history of Wisconsin.” Mostly False.
Economy: “Wisconsin’s economy is in the best shape it’s been since 2000.” Half True.
Transportation: “Road projects across the state are staying on track or getting done sooner thanks to the good work of the team at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.” Mostly False.