Norquist, In Madison To Talk Criminal Justice Reform, Says He’s Surprised By Walker’s Early Success

Anti-Tax Advocate Says Walker Would Make Strong Candidate

By
Gage Skidmore (CC-BY-SA)

National anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist said on Tuesday that he’s pleasantly surprised by how quickly Gov. Scott Walker has surged in the Republican race for president.

Norquist is best known for getting Republicans to sign his Americans for Tax Reform pledge to oppose tax increases. He was in Madison to promote another initiative aimed at reducing prison costs.

Norquist said he had assumed that national media would get bored of covering other candidates before they started paying attention to Walker.

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“I am surprised — and not unpleasantly surprised — at how well he’s doing this early in the race. I did not know that his accomplishments in Wisconsin were as well understood in other states as they are,” he said.

Norquist said Walker would make a “strong” candidate and a “powerful” president, saying he likes the way Walker made government cost less with Act 10.