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What They're Saying: as the union battle in Wisconsin continues, freshman governors offer their support to Governor Scott Walker

Natalie Gonnella

During recent interviews while visiting Washington, D.C. for the annual winter meetings of the National Governors' Association and the Republican Governors' Association, several freshman governors have weighed in the ongoing union battles in Wisconsin, offering both their support to Governor Walker and their disdain for the missing Democrats.

With Governor Scott Walker issuing a 24-hour ultimatum to missing members of Wisconsin's state legislature, here's a look at what his GOP colleagues have had to say about the current situation:

Governor Nikki Haley:

Let's be clear, this was cowardly. This was irresponsible. They left their state at a time when their state needed them the most because they don't want to take a vote. Whether they are for it or against it, you come back and you represent the people of your state. I think what Governor Walker is doing is showing that he is standing his ground. I talked to him this past week. He is holding strong. I told him the people of this country want him to hold strong. I think what is absolutely shameful is those senators left their state.

Governor Jan Brewer:

I think it's despicable...that you have elected officials in the legislature, and I served in the legislature for 14 years, in part of leadership, that they would leave their job. No one should walk out. They are doing exactly what we ask public employees not to do, and that is to strike. And it is wrong. They need to get back to Wisconsin, they need to go in there, and they need to vote. And it is just so irresponsible. I can't imagine them, any of them, getting re-elected. The only thing you go to the legislature with is your vote.

Governor Paul LePage

I think [Walker is] going to have a lot less hair next month than he has this month, but I admire him for recognizing the problem and at least attempting to get it under control...We're all looking at each other and discussing the options, and he's taken an option that he believes is necessary for his state. And I certainly support him.

Five of the GOP's biggest names come from Wisconsin

Tim Montgomerie

The Badger State may only be the 21st most conservative state in Gallup's league table but Politico records the five big name Republicans that come from Wisconsin:

1. Gov. Scott Walker is the nation’s most-talked-about governor and a hero on the right for his attempts to roll back collective bargaining rights for state workers—a plan that would also strike a severe blow at the Democratic political apparatus.
2. In Washington, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is the youthful and articulate voice of entitlement reform, the designer of the GOP blueprint for the nation’s fiscal future. In January, it was Ryan who was picked to deliver the Republican Party’s televised response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.
3. Freshman Rep. Sean Duffy, a former prosecutor and reality TV celebrity who won former Appropriations Chairman David Obey’s House seat in November, is heralded as one of the party’s rising young stars.
4. On the Senate side, Ron Johnson, a political newcomer who felled liberal standard-bearer Sen. Russ Feingold last year, represents one of the tea party movement’s biggest success stories.
5. Wisconsin hands also hold the levers of national party power. Reince Priebus, a former Wisconsin GOP chairman, recently ousted Michael Steele to become chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Read the full piece.