But first, after weeks of wondering and waiting, his honor, the mayor of Milwaukee, announces he will run for governor. Tom Barrett joins us from Milwaukee. And thanks very much for doing so.

Tom Barrett:
Happy to be with you, Frederica.

Frederica Freyberg:
Well, now it is fair to say that the job of the next governor is likely not going to be pretty. Sagging economy, budget deficits, leaving choices for someone in that seat, like spending cuts and tax increases. Why do you want this job?

Tom Barrett:
Well, because I love my family and the people of the state of Wisconsin, and I'm concerned about its future. My skill set is one that lends itself to difficult situations. I've had some real challenging issues here in Milwaukee. We've lowered crime, we've gotten involved in education, we've worked to create jobs. Last week we announced the creation of 800 new jobs and 800 retained jobs for Republic Airways. Those are issues that are important to the people of the state of Wisconsin, and it's something I think I can do a good job at.

Frederica Freyberg:
Speaking of Republic Airlines jobs, what was your role?

Tom Barrett:
I was involved in the creation of the Milwaukee 7, M7, which is a regional economic development consortium here in southeastern Wisconsin. I did that because I felt that for far too long we had city versus suburban battles that clouded our ability to attract new industries.  So I and a number of business individuals founded this organization. This was a situation where we went head to head with Denver and Indianapolis, and at the end of the day Republic decided that Milwaukee was the place to locate these jobs, and I couldn't be happier.

Frederica Freyberg:
Nor could the rest of the state. Now, your Republican opponent Scott Walker’s campaign manager calls you Tom the Taxer. That is going to be the drumbeat going forward. What is your position on taxes?

Tom Barrett:
It's important to look at Scott's position as well, what he has done since he's become county executive is raised the tax levy in his executive budgets $38 million. His record really negates his rhetoric. More importantly, if you look at for example this year's budget for the city of Milwaukee, we had a pension problem. We had a choice. We could either borrow $49 million and push it on to future generations or we could make some difficult decisions and pay for it this year. I chose to pay for it this year. That meant we had to have $32 million in cuts in our budgets. But it didn't push anything onto future generations. In sharp contrast, when faced with a similar decision, Scott Walker decided he would borrow $400 million, kick that can down the road and let future taxpayers pay for it. That's the wrong direction. We should be dealing with these issues head-on right now rather than having future generations have to deal with our mistakes.

Frederica Freyberg:
Should you land in the executive post, there are certainly matters that have been kind of kicked down the road that would land in your lap. How would you best deal with that at the state level?

Tom Barrett:
Well, my history has been someone who is a consensus builder. That means I try to bring parties together. I recognize that this is not an easy time to come into state government. In fact, I've had people as recently as this morning say to me, ‘why would you want to be governor at this time?’ I think that's exactly when you want someone who has had the experience, who knows how to deal with these issues. I think that we have to take an approach that is not ideologically driven, that there are too many issues that are very, very serious, and if this just becomes the “you say potato, I say potato” approach we've had in the past, ideological warfare, we're not going to solve the issues. For the sake of this state, for the sake of my own children and all the kids in this state, we've got to tackle these issues head-on.

Frederica Freyberg:
What do you think the state would be doing that it's not doing to attract and keep jobs?

Tom Barrett:
I think the state has made some improvements recently with this new tax credit that is geared toward jobs. You're going to hear me talk about jobs a lot because to the extent that our tax code encourages the creation of jobs, family-supporting jobs, that's what I'm interested in. And we've got other tax provisions, for example, those provisions that really encourage speculation in land and you've seen this I think in the Middleton area, where you've got tax provisions that encourage speculators to come in and their whole goal is to hold on to that land, so they can build subdivisions, but until they do that they start planting pumpkins or whatever so they can get a lower tax rate. That shifts the tax burden to other homeowners. That's the type of thing we have to look at. Are we creating jobs or promoting speculation? I'm in the corner of creating jobs.

Frederica Freyberg:
We know that you favor mayoral control of the Milwaukee school district. What about all schools in the whole state of Wisconsin? What is your plan for potential finance reform as state funding is decreasing and costs in districts is continuing to rise?

Tom Barrett:
We have to look at all the major cost centers of state government, whether it’s K-12, university system, Medicaid, the prisons, aid to local governments, and we have to see how we can in a very, very difficult environment provide as much support as possible in those areas. That doesn't mean we're going to have the same amount. It doesn't mean necessarily we're going to have rising or falling amounts. But we have to see what we can do to get this economy going again. Because if we don't get the economy going, if we don't create more jobs, it's going to be difficult to maintain the levels we currently have. That's why it's so important to do what we can to create jobs here in the state of Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:
How can a Milwaukeean like yourself relate to and understand the needs of the rest of the state?

Tom Barrett:
Well, I've got four kids. I've got a wife who works. I understand that this is really about what our values are as a state. And I realize there are people who live in a large city like Milwaukee. Other people live in small cities or rural areas. But I think in many regards the values that we share, what we want for our children, what our dreams are for our future, are much more similar than people realize. And to the extent that people can understand that about me, I think the scariness of being the guy from the big city disappears. I want my kids to have a good education, so they’ll get a job, so they’ll stay in the state to support me when I’m old. And I think that’s what a lot of parents want.

Frederica Freyberg:
You ran for governor once before, just missing out to Jim Doyle. What are the lessons learned from that outing?

Tom Barrett:
Well, I enjoyed that campaign immensely. And traveling through the state, it really was a wonderful experience. In fact, what I've said about that many, many times, I enjoyed the whole thing except for the last 15 minutes. So what I plan to do differently is enjoy the last 15 minutes as well.

Frederica Freyberg:
And what about your ability to both run for governor and run the city of Milwaukee?

Tom Barrett:
I'm a high-energy guy. I obviously am committed to this city. I love this city. But I love the state of Wisconsin too. And I am very confident I'll be able to perform both functions. It may mean I don't do as many dishes at home, but I've already told my kids that they're going to have to step up and help around the house a little bit more.

Frederica Freyberg:
We'll be speaking with Mordecai Lee in just a moment. He suggests Tom Barrett did something off the playbook. Usually people have an announcement, and they've got all their supporters in one room in Milwaukee, and then they go across the state, barnstorm and do the same press conferences across the state. He didn't do that. He stood in front of his house with his family, and then he didn't take off across the state. Is your playbook going to be different?

Tom Barrett:
It's going to be different in the sense what I like to do and what I feel most comfortable doing is sitting down and talking to people and listening to them. So I didn't want to have a situation where I would just go out and shout to the people. What you're going to see over the next couple of months is you're going to see me going to different cities, towns and villages and sitting down with people and listening to them as well. This is about listening as well as it is about giving speeches.

Frederica Freyberg:
Now, in a sentence tell us who you would be as governor.

Tom Barrett:
I would be a very pragmatic, results-oriented person. As a mayor, as an executive, you have to be that way because speaking at the local level, people don't care whether their garbage is picked up by a Republican or Democrat. They just want their garbage picked up. They don't care if their snow is plowed by a liberal or conservative. They want their snow plowed. I think at the end of the day what people want in Wisconsin is they want good, clean, honest government that provides them with jobs where they can support their family and there's fair taxation. That's what I'm all about.

Frederica Freyberg:
Tom Barrett, thanks very much.

Tom Barrett:
Thank you very much.