Brett Davis Enters Race for Lieutenant Governor with Pledge to Reduce Government Spending

MADISON – What happened to Amelia Earhart?  How did the Great Pyramid get built?  When will Brett Favre actually retire?  There are some mysteries that might never be solved, but State Representative Brett Davis wants to finally give an answer to the age-old question of just what exactly does the lieutenant governor do? 

Davis, who is in his third term in the State Assembly, formally joined the race for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor on Monday when he kicked off a six-city tour of Wisconsin including a press conference at the State Capitol. 

“I’ll transform the lieutenant governor’s office into the leading taxpayer watchdog in the state with the chief mission of routing out waste, fraud and abuse,” said Davis.  “Each year I am lieutenant governor I will propose an amount equal to at least 100 times the lieutenant governor’s office budget in wasteful government spending to eliminate.  It’s time the taxpayers get a return on their investment for having a lieutenant governor.” 

The 2011 operations budget for the office of lieutenant governor was $390,800.  Under Davis’ formula he would then propose nearly $40 million in government spending cuts in his first year in office. 

“State government spends too much and, as a result, taxes too much,” said Davis.  “To get our economy back on track we need to lower the tax burden for families and businesses and that starts with eliminating wasteful government spending.”

During his time in the State Assembly, Davis has been a leader in working to lower government spending and taxes.  He has voted 126 times to cut taxes by a total of $5.4 billion.  Davis has also railed against state spending on things like excessive highway maps, cosmetic surgery for prisoners, and high-priced renewable energy contacts.

Davis has represented Green County and portions of Dane, Rock and Lafayette Counties in the State Assembly since his election in 2004.  Despite being a conservative Republican, Davis has won three times in a district that gave President Barack Obama 64% of the vote.  He is a graduate of Monroe High School and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh where he played basketball.  Brett and his wife Amy live in Oregon with three children.