Scott Walker (politician) - Wisconsin State Assembly

Wisconsin State Assembly

Walker made his first try for government office in 1990 at age 22, winning the Republican nomination for Milwaukee's 7th District seat in the Wisconsin State Assembly, but losing in the general election to incumbent Democrat Gwen Moore. This is the only competitive race for public office that Walker has lost to date. He moved to the predominantly Republican edge city of Wauwatosa, when its Assembly seat opened up in 1993, winning the special election over Democrat Chris Ament, son of then-Milwaukee County Executive Tom Ament.

During the campaign, Walker backed welfare reform and opposed the expansion of mass transit. He supported a cap on state spending and said that the law on resolving labor disputes with local government employees needed to be reformed. Walker received the endorsements of Wisconsin Right to Life and The Milwaukee Sentinel, which called him a fiscal conservative and noted his pro-life, tough-on-crime, and pro-welfare reform positions. He was re-elected four times, serving until 2002 when he became a county executive.

While in the State Assembly, Walker took a special interest in criminal justice matters, and chaired the Committees on Correctional Facilities, and Corrections and the Courts. Over the years, he served on a number of other committees, including Health, Census and Redistricting, Financial Institutions, and Housing. In 1999 he took the lead in passing a truth-in-sentencing bill that ended the practice of taking time off prisoners' sentences for good behavior. In 2001, he was the lead sponsor of a bill to prevent pharmacists from being disciplined for refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception. He was a strong supporter of a bill to require voters to show photo ID at the polls.