Assembly Republicans get new leadership, and their agenda. Representative Jeff Fitzgerald, the new Assembly Speaker, spells it out for members his Republican caucus which picked up 14 seats last week. “We’re going to put policies in place, and reforms, that put us back on the fiscal right track,” said Fitzgerald. “We’re going to start doing what family budgets all around the state have had to do. We’re going to stop spending more than we’ve got coming in.”
“I guarantee it’s going to be the most difficult session you’ve ever served in,” Fitzgerald promised his GOP colleagues, including 25 freshmen. “There’s going to be some tough choices to put this state back on the right track.” That sentiment echoed by Governor-elect Scott Walker, who addressed the GOP caucus. “Now it’s put or shut up time,” said Walker. Elected along with Fitzgerald as the new Speaker was a new Majority Leader: Representative Scott Suder of Abbotsford defeated Representative Mark Gottlieb of Port Washington for that leadership post.