David M. Walker (U.S. Comptroller General)
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David M. Walker (born October 2, 1951) is an American CPA and public servant who served as the
Comptroller General of the United States The Comptroller General of the United States is the director of the Government Accountability Office (GAO, formerly known as the General Accounting Office), a legislative-branch agency established by Congress in 1921 to ensure the fiscal and man ...
from 1998 to 2008, and is founder and CEO of the Comeback America Initiative (CAI) from 2010–2013. In 2017, Walker announced that he would explore running for Governor of Connecticut. He was eliminated from the race on the second round of voting at the State Republican Party Convention in May 2018. He chose not to petition for the ballot consistent with his pledge.


Early life and education

Walker was born in
Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...
, in 1951. He received his B.S. in accounting from
Jacksonville University Jacksonville University (JU) is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida. Located in the city's Arlington district, the school was founded in 1934 as a two-year college and was known as Jacksonville Junior College until September 5, 1956, ...
, a Senior Management in Government Certificate in public policy from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
's
John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
, his first honorary degree from Bryant University, and several other honorary doctorate degrees (American University, Jacksonville University, and Lincoln Memorial University). He is also a Certified Public Accountant and has completed the CAPSTONE program for flag rank military officers. Mr. Walker was employed by Arthur Andersen LLP (1989-1998), and was a Director at Source Finance.


Career as Comptroller General

David Walker served as Comptroller general of the United States from 1998-2008. He was appointed by Bill Clinton. While at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Walker undertook a number of transformational reforms within the GAO and the government that were widely recognized. He also achieved two pieces of GAO-related legislation, one of which changed the name of the agency from the General Accounting Office to the Government Accountability Office. Walker embarked on a Fiscal Wake-up Tour, partnering with the
Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in e ...
, the Concord Coalition, and the
Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the preside ...
to alert Americans of the country's long-term fiscal imbalance. Walker left the GAO to head the Peterson Foundation on March 12, 2008. Labor-management relations became fractious at the end of Walker's nine-plus year tenure as Comptroller general. On September 19, 2007, GAO analysts voted by a margin of two to one (897–445), in a 75% turnout, to establish the first union in GAO's 86-year history. At the same time, despite controversy over GAO's internal reclassification effort, GAO employees rated the agency as the second best place to work in the federal government.


Peter G. Peterson Foundation

In 2008 Walker was personally recruited by
Peter G. Peterson Peter George Peterson (June 5, 1926 – March 20, 2018) was an American investment banker who served as United States Secretary of Commerce from February 29, 1972, to February 1, 1973, under the Richard Nixon administration. Before serving as Sec ...
, co-founder of the
Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate bu ...
, and former Secretary of Commerce under
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
, to lead his new foundation. The Foundation distributed the documentary film, '' I.O.U.S.A.'', which follows Walker and
Robert Bixby Robert L. Bixby is the Executive Director of the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan grassroots organization that educates the public about fiscal responsibility. The Coalition was founded in 1992, and Bixby was named the Executive Director in 1999. ...
, director of the Concord Coalition, around the nation, as they engage Americans in town-hall style meetings.
Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net ...
,
Alan Greenspan Alan Greenspan (born March 6, 1926) is an American economist who served as the 13th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006. He works as a private adviser and provides consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC. ...
,
Paul Volcker Paul Adolph Volcker Jr. (September 5, 1927 – December 8, 2019) was an American economist who served as the 12th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987. During his tenure as chairman, Volcker was widely credited with having ended th ...
, and
Robert Rubin Robert Edward Rubin (born August 29, 1938) is an American retired banking executive, lawyer, and former government official. He served as the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton administration. Before his government ...
also appear. Peterson was cited by ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' as one of the foremost "philanthropists whose foundations are spending increasing amounts and raising their voices to influence public policy". In philanthropy, Walker has advocated a more action-based approach to the traditional foundation: “I do believe, however, that foundations have been very cautious and somewhat conservative about whether and to what extent they want to get involved in advocacy.” David Walker stepped down as President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation on October 15, 2010, to establish his own venture, the Comeback America Initiative.


Campaign for fiscal responsibility

Walker has compared the present-day United States to the Roman Empire in its decline, saying the U.S. government is on a "burning platform" of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, expensive overcommitments to government provided health care, swelling Medicare and Social Security costs, the enormous expense of a prospective universal health care system, and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon. Walker has also taken the position that there will be no technological change that will mitigate health care and social security problems into 2050 despite ongoing discoveries. In the national press, Walker has been a vocal critic of profligate spending at the federal level. In ''Fortune'' magazine, in 2008 he warned that "from Washington, we'll need leadership rather than laggardship". In another op-ed in the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...
'', he argued that the credit crunch could portend a far greater fiscal crisis; and on
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
, he said that the United States is "underwater to the tune of $50 trillion" in long-term obligations. He compared the thrift of Revolutionary-era Americans, who, if excessively in debt, would "merit time in
debtors' prison A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, Lucinda"A Histori ...
", with modern times, where "we now have something closer to debtors' pardons, and that's not good". In the fall of 2012, the Comeback America Initiative led a campaign called the "$10 Million a Minute" Bus Tour. The tour covered about 10,000 miles and stopped at universities, technical colleges, businesses, and more in over a dozen states. The tour's goal was to bring national attention to the economic and fiscal challenges that face our nation and various nonpartisan solutions that should be able to gain bipartisan support. Along with former Fed Vice Chairman
Alice Rivlin Alice Mitchell Rivlin (born Georgianna Alice Mitchell; March 4, 1931 – May 14, 2019) was an American economist and budget official. She served as the 16th Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve from 1996 to 1999. Before her appointment at the F ...
, Walker danced the Harlem Shake in
video
produced by The Can Kicks Back, a nonpartisan group that attempted to organize millennials to pressure lawmakers to address the United States' then $16.4 trillion debt.


Other responsibilities

Prior to his appointment to the GAO, Walker served as a partner and global managing director of
Arthur Andersen LLP Arthur Andersen was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corporati ...
and in several government leadership positions, including as a Public Trustee for Social Security and Medicare from 1990 to 1995 and as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefit Programs during the Reagan administration. Before his time at Arthur Andersen, Walker was the Houston Director and then the Eastern Regional Director of Source Finance based in Washington, DC, and before that was in human resources at accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand. Walker serves on the board of the Government Transformation Initiative Coalition. He previously served on various boards and advisory groups, including as Chairman of the United Nations Independent Audit Advisory Committee from 2007 to 2011, as a member of the Boards for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, as well as a member of Advisory Committees for The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Peterson Foundation, and is a former member of the AARP's National Board and Policy Council. He is also a member of the National Academy for Public Administration, the National Academy of Social Insurance, the Trilateral Commission, and the Sons of the American Revolution. He is a National Co-Founder of
No Labels No Labels is an American political organization that supports centrist, bi-partisan policies and politics. The group promoted and helped to start the moderate Problem Solvers Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives It has also built a simi ...
previously served as Chair of a Postal Reform Panel for National Academy of Public Administration, and as Co-Chair of the Institute of Medicine's End of Life Panel. He has authored three books, with the most recent one titled ''Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility'' (2010). He is a frequent writer and commentator, and is one of the main subjects of the critically acclaimed documentary '' I.O.U.S.A.''. Critic Roger Ebert named '' I.O.U.S.A.'' one of the Top 5 Documentaries of 2008.


Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut candidacy

In the 2014 election, Walker unsuccessfully sought to become the Republican nominee for
Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut The following is a list of lieutenant governors of the State of Connecticut. Lieutenant governors of the State of Connecticut, 1776–present Notes References ;Constitutions * * * ;Specific External linksOfficial website of the L ...
. In Connecticut, the candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor run separately in the primary elections, but together as a ticket in the general election.


Governor of Connecticut candidacy

On April 9, 2017, Walker announced that he would be establishing an exploratory committee to run for the Republican nomination for
governor of Connecticut The governor of Connecticut is the head of government of Connecticut, and the commander-in-chief of the U.S. state, state's Connecticut Military Department, military forces. The Governor (United States), governor has a duty to enforce state laws, ...
. Walker pledged to support term limits for the office of governor and said that gubernatorial candidates should run as a ticket, so then voters know who would be their leaders. On May 14, 2018, Walker withdrew his candidacy for Governor, following the second ballot results at the Republican state convention. A month later, on June 14, 2018 he endorsed businessman
Bob Stefanowski Robert Vincent Stefanowski (born May 21, 1962) is an American business executive and politician. Born and raised in North Haven, Connecticut, he is a former business executive of General Electric, 3i Group plc, UBS, and Dollar Financial Group. ...
.


Personal life

He and his wife Mary live in
Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...
, and have two children and three grandchildren.


Awards

Walker has received numerous leadership and public service awards. For example, Walker was awarded the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' highest award, the Gold Medal Award of Distinction on October 19, 2008. In 2010 Walker was inducted into the
Accounting Hall of Fame The Accounting Hall of Fame is an award "recognizing accountants who are making or have made a significant contribution to the advancement of accounting" since the beginning of the 20th century. Inductees are from both accounting academia and pract ...
at
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
.


Books

* 1996. ''Retirement Security: Understanding and Planning Your Financial Future''. John Wiley & Sons. * 1998. ''Delivering on the Promise: How to Attract, Manage and Retain Human Capital''. Free Press. * 2010. ''Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility''. Random House. * 2020 and 2022. “America in 2040: Still a Superpower? (A Pathway to Success)”. Author House


References


External links

*
C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Walker, March 20, 2005
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, David M. 1951 births American accountants Comptrollers General of the United States Connecticut Republicans Fellows of the United States National Academy of Public Administration walker, David Harvard Kennedy School alumni Living people Politicians from Birmingham, Alabama Sons of the American Revolution 21st-century American politicians