Walker Tries To Make Distinction Between When He’s Governor, And When He’s Campaigning

Gov. Scott Walker is trying to spell out when he’s campaigning for re-election and when he’s appearing at an event as governor, though Democrats say they don’t see much difference between the two.

Last week, Walker’s campaign began sending out advisories that the governor was appearing at some events that were strictly part of his re-election bid. Walker says the challenge of trying to separate when he’s governor and when he’s running is why he waited so long to formally declare his candidacy.

“At some point, the voters of the state want to see us campaigning,” said Walker. “If I wasn’t campaigning, they’d say, ‘Why is he not campaigning?’ It’s kind of a double-edged sword.”

Walker said when he’s appearing as governor, he won’t be mentioning his Democratic rivals.

“If I was at an official event, I wouldn’t be talking about Mary Burke or Brett (Hulsey) or anybody else until (the press) asks me questions,” said Walker. “At a political event, certainly I could talk about those distinctions, even in front of the crowd.”

Walker said the attempted distinction is not in reaction to the first John Doe probe in Milwaukee, that looked at when Walker was county executive and some of his staff were doing campaign work on taxpayer time for the governor’s race in 2010.

State Democratic Party spokesperson Melissa Baldauf says as governor, Walker does have the advantage of having the bully pulpit.

“It’s something we’ve seen from Scott Walker always, that when he’s out, his first concern isn’t how to serve the people of Wisconsin or how to serve the people of Milwaukee County when he was county executive,” said Baldauf. “It’s always with a mind for what’s going to make him look the best.”

Walker was in New York earlier this week, helping fundraise for the Republican gubernatorial candidate in that state.