Tea Party Express’ Kremer: Recall Waste of Taxpayer Dollars

Tea Party Express chairwoman Amy Kremer blasted the Wisconsin recall as a “waste of taxpayer dollars” in a CNN interview on Wednesday, calling the election “unnecessary” and explaining, “We didn’t need to go here. They should have waited. [Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker] was elected fair and square in 2010 and he should have been able to serve out his term without going through this.”

The conservative activist praised the Wisconsin voters who saw that Walker’s “reforms are working,” continuing, “The facts are the facts. The people saw that, and you see it with the exit polling, that 35 percent of households that have union members voted for Governor Walker yesterday.”

Walker defeated the Democratic nominee, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, by a 53 to 46 margin in Tuesday’s race.

When Walker’s victory was announced Tuesday evening, the Tea Party Express issued a statement characterizing the recall as a “battle between conservatives’ policies that successfully balanced the budget and encouraged economic growth, and the big government policies found under the Obama administration,” and warning the administration that “tea party momentum is going to be coming strong and mercilessly in November.”

In her interview on CNN, Kremer echoed the group’s statement, calling the result a “big victory” and interpreting Walker’s win as a perilous sign for President Barack Obama’s reelection bid: “Exit polling may have shown that Barack Obama’s up there in Wisconsin, [but] I think that once we start educating on Obama’s record and focusing on November, I think that’s going to turn around.” She predicted that “Mitt Romney will carry Wisconsin in November.”

Kremer blamed the President’s decision not to campaign in Wisconsin on a lack of economic credibility: “The fact is President Obama didn’t go into Wisconsin and campaign for Mayor Barrett because he can’t talk about job creation and Governor Walker could.”

She stepped back for a moment to explain why the Wisconsin result matters for the big picture, portraying the win not just as a victory for Walker, but as a victory for sound governance: “Look at where we’re heading with our national economy — it’s not good. We’re on this cliff, about to go over, and I think Washington can take some lessons from Governor Walker.”