- We'll be in Waukesha on Sunday,
when Governor Scott Walker makes his re-election announcement.
Meanwhile, the field of Democrats running in the primary
race is growing.
That field includes our next guest,
who grew up near Barneveld.
Bob Harlow once worked for Republican State Senator Dale
Schultz and is now a software engineer.
Thanks very much for being here.
- Thank you for having me.
- We wanted to start by asking you what you think
sets you apart from the other Democrats in the field?
- Certainly background and I think also vision in the way
we're going about this campaign.
This campaign is about bringing Wisconsin together.
We've seen almost a decade of a divisive governor trying to tear
us apart as a state and it has really set us back.
We need to come together as Wisconsinites because I know we
share a lot more in common than divides us.
We all have a vision for a prosperous Wisconsin.
And as governor, I will lead our state forward toward that
vision.
- On the issues, what do you think would be the most
important thing to make our education system the best it
could be?
- What we need to do is the technology coming out
of our universities is already driving our national economy,
but the problem is, you know, that that technology is being
licensed to out-of-state companies.
We need to find a way to make sure that we can transform that
technology into world-class businesses in the state of
Wisconsin.
And those businesses will bring prosperity to our state.
They will give a place for the world-class graduates coming out
of our universities to work instead of going out of state.
So I would like to see that integrated
with our education system.
And furthermore, I want to see every Wisconsinite have the
opportunity to get the training to do a really good-paying job.
There are great-paying jobs being created every day
all across the United States, all over the world.
I want to see those happen in Wisconsin.
And as governor, I will fight to make sure that these good-paying
jobs are being created in Wisconsin and that Wisconsinites
have the opportunities to get the training and the education
to be able to secure those jobs.
- On health care, would you be in favor of expanded Medicaid in
the state of Wisconsin or as some have been talking about
BadgerCare for all? - Yes.
Certainly every Wisconsinite should have the option to decide
if they want to purchase BadgerCare or some other plan.
I know BadgerCare will be much more bang for the buck.
You're going to get more care for the buck because in
BadgerCare, they're not spending on these big advertising bills.
They don't have an army of people trying to deny claims.
So as governor, one of my priorities will be opening up
BadgerCare enrollment for every Wisconsinite who wants to get it
in the marketplace.
- Now, next week the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
is expected to vote on this Foxconn deal.
What is your position on that deal?
Are you in favor of it or opposed to it?
- Opposed in the strongest terms.
You know, there are good-paying jobs in the world and there are
jobs that don't pay so well.
And an example of a really bad job,
someplace you would not want to work, is for Foxconn.
The jobs that Foxconn will make in Wisconsin will be $10.80 per
hour jobs.
Because if they create merely 1,500 of those,
they will get over a million dollars of Wisconsin's money for
every single one.
And that's what they're going to do.
So it's going to be very bad jobs,
where if Walker gets elected again,
he'll continue to bash and try to dismantle unions and people
doing those jobs will have no protections to stand up to
Foxconn, who will be able to skirt environmental regulations
and public health concerns.
And you will see workers who are working jobs that are setting
them back economically and where they're exposed to all kinds of
really bad chemicals.
So it's a very bad deal for Wisconsin.
As governor, I'm going to fight to bring good-paying jobs to our
state, jobs that you can actually raise a family on and
get ahead.
- As for an issue that was vexing during the state budget
process, transportation funding.
What would you do to have a kind of consistent source of funding
for our roads and highways?
- We just need to pay for roads and highways.
You see a failure of leadership from the Republicans,
because they could not figure out--
basically they decided they need to give a lot of tax cuts
to their rich friends.
And so they were incompetent enough that they even figure out
how to pay for our roads.
It shows they are so beholden to their wealthy donors that
they cannot even accomplish basic things for the people
of Wisconsin, like maintaining good roads.
As governor, I will not have that problem.
I will lead our state and make sure that we are doing the
things that our citizens need.
- All right. We need to leave it there.
Bob Harlow, thanks very much.
- Well, thank you, Frederica.