Neumann cranks up attacks on Walker

GOP gubernatorial hopeful Mark Neumann again went on the attack against rival Scott Walker, this time charging the county executive increased Milwaukee County’s spending at a faster clip than Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle raised the state’s budget.
According to Neumann, over the past eight years, Walker’s proposed budgets in Milwaukee County rose from more than $1.1 billion in 2003-04 to more than $1.48 billion in 2010-11, an increase of 35 percent.
Over the same period, state spending has increased from more than $24.52 billion to $31.14 billion, an increase of 27 percent.
“At the end of the day, it’s these numbers that got me and kept me in the governor’s race,” Neumann said at a press conference outside the governor’s office in Madison.
Just hours after Neumann’s news conference, Walker held a media teleconference to fire back that Neumann was distorting the numbers.
“For a guy who was once a math teacher, apparently he needs to go back to school and do a little math here,” Walker said.
Walker said the Neumann comparison does not remove capital budget spending from the operating budget, which he said would show a $65 million spending decrease between 2009 and 2010.
Neumann’s attack follows criticism he leveled at Walker in recent weeks that the county exec flip-flopped on Arizona’s immigration law and has been away from his job too much to campaign for the governor’s office.
– WisPolitics.com