Report from the Wisconsin State GOP Convention held in Green Bay, Wisconsin on 5-14-16 by Alan Walker, Chairman of the Republican Party of Polk County.

Polk County Receives Star Award at GOP State Convention

The Republican Party of Polk County won the “The Star Award” for our efforts in the area of supporting candidates and with communications.

Governor Scott Walker shared how the recent jobs report points to a stronger Wisconsin economy. First, Wisconsin reached an all-time high for total employment with more than 3 million people working for themselves or Wisconsin employers. Next, 13,100 private-sector jobs were created, and the unemployment rate dropped from 9.2% in 2010 to 4.5% today — below the national rate of 5%. This means that Wisconsin is ranked fifth best in the country and No. 1 in the Midwest for job growth. Also the labor force participation rate was 68.8%, ranking Wisconsin sixth best in the country, 6 points above the USA mean. This is all good news for working families all across Wisconsin.

The Governor stated “It’s no secret that growing jobs, strengthening Wisconsin’s economy and highlighting our state’s successes have been top priorities for my administration. Through tax relief and government reforms, we worked to get the mighty hand of the government out of the way and unleash the power of the private sector of our economy. More than five years into our administration, we are seeing measurable, positive results. Our pension fund is fully funded and the budget had $200 million more for public schools. Wisconsin in 2015 had the second highest ACT composite score in the USA and the 3rd highest graduation rate in the USA.

The Governor stated “looking ahead, one of our biggest challenges is finding enough people to fill all the new jobs being created in Wisconsin. With this in mind, we invested millions into our public schools in dual enrollment and youth apprenticeship programs. Lately, we put more into our technical colleges and we continue to fund customized worker training sessions. The latest news shows that we are heading in the right direction. The Wisconsin Comeback continues.”

In regards to the delegates the Governor thanked them for the hard work that goes into the resolutions. He said that many resolutions approved by the grass roots have been implemented into law since 2010, like Act 10, right to work, prevailing wage, castle doctrine, conceal carry, voter photo ID, protection of the unborn,  victims rights, GAB reform, school choice, tuition freeze at State Universities, and property and income tax reform.

On Saturday 5-14-16 the Republican Party of Wisconsin endorsed Ron Johnson at its annual convention drawing a clear contrast between the manufacturer from Oshkosh WI and Senator Feingold, a career politician who will do anything to get back to Washington.

Ron Johnson said”What we do here in Wisconsin, I believe, can be crucial to literally saving this nation…  I don’t think this nation can count on Senator Feingold to keep Wisconsin or this nation safe.” He stressed that Wiscosinites want to be safe and secure and have the opportunity to succeed and prosper.

Ron Johnson emphasized performance, results, and action. Ron is the chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. His committees had 24 pieces of legislation that were signed into law. These covered security, accountability, and government efficiency. Work continues on our broken, inefficient, dysfunctional, federal government and the need to stop growing it. He said we need to stop mortgaging our children’s and grandchildren’s future with all this debt. He said “Obamacare has been a massive consumer fraud. In the private sector, you would not own your company if you made those false promises … I hear Senator Feingold say in interviews that this health care law isn’t as bad as people are pretending it to be. Are you kidding me? The cost of health care coverage has gone way up for families.”

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan spoke of unifying GOP. The divide among many in the state GOP after a long primary fight hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Paul Ryan talked briefly about the face to face meeting with Donald Trump on 5-12-16.  He told Donald Trump, now the standard bearer of the Republican Party that the core principles of the Republican Party can not be compromised. He wants the Supreme Court to follow the Constitution, thus the need to appoint someone like Justice Scalia; we need to defend human life, strengthen the military, and rein in regulations that come from unelected bureaucrats.   “We need to unify but not fake unity. It’s no secret that we from time to time have clashed on an issue or two. That happens with people. That happens with Republicans.” Paul Ryan says as it gets closer to the general election, its likely voters will see a clear difference between Trump and his democratic opponent.

“Donald Trump should be given a ton of credit for advancing and widening the playing field. He is bringing new voters to the Republican Party by the millions. What we want to make sure of going forward is that we’re doing nothing but adding voters to the Republican Party column, and not doing anything that subtracts voters going forward,” said Ryan.

In regards to his role as Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan would like to reform the IRS code and improve tax rates to help get the economy running better than our 0.5% GDP growth. He would like to see reform in the welfare system where $800 billion is spent each year, with a system that encourages work and gives dignity back to people.