As he flips and flops on issues like immigration and right to work in his campaign for president, Scott Walker is setting himself up as a panderer in chief who never met a far-right special interest he wouldn’t cater to — and legalized discrimination is apparently the next issue Walker is changing his mind on.
In the wake of Indiana’s controversial so-called “religious freedom” law, which would allow businesses and individuals to legally discriminate against gay people, Scott Walker is refusing to say whether he would support such a law in Wisconsin, even though in 2013 as he was running for reelection Walker touted Wisconsin’s LGBT non-discrimination protections while suggesting that the federal government should pass similar legislation, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
As a presidential candidate, Walker has been under near-constant scrutiny for his blatant pandering. After promising for months that right to work legislation wasn’t “on his agenda,” he wasn’t supporting it, and it wouldn’t reach his desk in the upcoming legislative session, Walker earlier this month signed the contentious bill that will further flatten Wisconsin’s stagnant wages.
“Scott Walker’s blatant pandering to far-right special interests not only threatens the economic security of the middle class but turns back the clock on the progress we’ve made in defending the rights of every American to be treated with fairness and dignity,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Tuesday. “It’s up to legislative Republicans in Wisconsin to stand up to Scott Walker and refuse to introduce any kind of legislation that would legalize discrimination. Walker has already left his legislature holding the bag on his attacks on healthcare and public education. In 2016, Wisconsin voters will remember who stood for Scott Walker’s presidential campaign and who stood for Wisconsin’s working families.”
