Barrett: Walker Doesn’t Want People To Remember He Was Milwaukee County Executive

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In the Wisconsin recall debate, Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Democratic nominee Tom Barrett argued over jobs in the city of Milwaukee, where Barrett is the mayor — and in Milwaukee County, where Walker used to be county executive.

Walker said that unemployment in the city went up 27 percent in the time that Barrett has been mayor (since 2004). “We don’t want the rest of Wisconsin to become like Milwaukee,” Walker said. Instead, Walker said, they should seek to raise cities like Milwaukee up to the rest of the state.

Barrett countered that during the time that Walker was Milwaukee County executive — from 2002 to 2010, overlapping almost completely with Barrett’s time as mayor — unemployment for the whole county went up by 34 percent, and debt went up 85 percent. “He does not even want the people of this state to remember he was ever the county executive of this county.”

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