Wisconsin Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels said on Saturday that he would rein in unaccountable state agencies and cut taxes if he were elected governor.
“Everything’s on the table. I’m not the kind of guy that says it’s okay for people to give me the answer: that’s the way we’ve always done it. That is not a good answer,” Michels said, noting that he hopes to split the Department of Natural Resources into two agencies.
He said that the state government should be treated more like his business, which has rigorous performance reviews.
“We have 16 operating divisions at Michels. Every month, we do a formal review of each division, and every quarter we do a deep dive of each operating division — I don’t think anybody’s done that in a long time here in Madison with our state agencies,” the Wisconsin conservative elaborated.
“I hope that people in Wisconsin will be confident when I’m done, that their tax dollars are being used wisely, frugally and effectively, and that state government is running as efficiently as it possibly can,” he continued.
Michels said that the state government should view Wisconsinites as “customers” of state government, in which the state bureaucracy should provide its citizens with the best service possible.
“We’re going to get a better return on people’s tax dollars for themselves, their kids, their communities and that’s going to change Wisconsin for generations to come,” Michels said.
Michels also said he would cut taxes to make it a more favorable environment for workers.
He said, “We are going to also make Wisconsin more attractive for young people that are graduating … and veterans, when they get out of the service, they’ll probably more likely to return to Wisconsin or other veterans will say, ‘I’m gonna go to Wisconsin because there’s a favorable tax rate there and it’s a great place to raise a family.'”
Michels also contrasted his view of government with that of the incumbent Democrat Gov. Tony Evers.
“We’re going to put everything on the table, everything on the whiteboard. There’s a $5.8 billion surplus. Tony Evers, he thinks that’s a good thing. I think it’s a bad thing because the people of Wisconsin have been overtaxed,” the Wisconsin Republican said.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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