MADISON - Wisconsin is facing a $2.2 billion budget deficit for the next biennium, and an immediate shortfall of $283 million for the current fiscal year, but Scott Walker is campaigning hard for president while ignoring the mess he created here.

With the governor's budget address on the horizon, and Democrats calling for a budget repair bill to fix the $283 million deficit that must be corrected by the end of June, here are some words of wisdom for Scott Walker, by Scott Walker.

"We need the savings in the budget repair bill because Wisconsin faces a $3.6 billion deficit. Too many politicians have failed to tell the truth about our financial crisis. They left Wisconsinites in the dark about the extent of our fiscal problems. The facts are clear: Wisconsin is broke and it’s time to start paying our bills today – so our kids are not stuck with even bigger bills tomorrow.

"This deficit did not appear overnight. Wisconsin got here through a reliance on one-time fixes, accounting gimmicks and tax increases."

In February 2011, as the nation was recovering from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and most every state was running a deficit, Walker delivered a budget address that included the above remarks justifying his budget repair bill to correct the state's $137 million deficit. The bill also eliminated collective bargaining rights for most public employees, a move Walker said was necessary to balance the budget. Now in 2015, as many states are running a surplus and the national economy is thriving, Wisconsin is faced with an immediate shortfall of $283 million -- more than double the amount Walker said left the state "broke" -- yet Walker is refusing to take real, serious action.

That's not leadership, and it's not "big" or "bold." Walker was right when he said this deficit did not appear overnight. It's time for Walker to take responsibility for the consequences of his fiscally irresponsible policies and start paying our bills today.