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Letter to the editor

Our accountant sounds alarm

Comptroller Gen. David Walker says the country is headed for bankruptcy without a fiscal overhaul.

By STEPHEN NOHLGREN
Published June 12, 2007

United States Comptroller General David Walker listens to a panel presentation during the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour at the University of South Florida.
	[Times photo: Chris Zuppa]

WASHINGTON - He lives on Mount Vernon property once owned by George Washington, can trace his ancestors to pre-Revolutionary America and has been likened to Paul Revere.

And now David M. "General" Walker figures his cross-country crusade concerns nothing less than the future of the republic.

Walker, 55, is the comptroller general of the United States, which means he runs the Government Accountability Office. It's not the sexiest job in town, auditing federal programs to see how effectively they work.

But lately Walker is on a weightier mission.

In speech after speech, about 150 times a year, he wants us to know that the country is headed for bankruptcy. Deficit spending, spiraling health care costs and retiring baby boomers will do us in unless we start taxing and saving.

And if politicians won't take the lead, maybe We the People should.

"This is not going to be solved within the beltway," Walker recently told the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accounts. "You need to be more actively involved, writing letters, going to town hall meetings, asking tough questions of political candidates: What are they going to do?"

Trim, balding and bespectacled, Walker fits a simplistic stereotype of the sober accountant. But his energetic bounce, well-honed sound bites and doomsday message play well in mainstream media, from 60 Minutes to the Colbert Report.

So who is this chief accountant of ours, who says that fiscal irresponsibility is more dangerous than terrorists hiding in caves?

- - -

David Walker was born in Alabama and grew up in Coral Gables, where his father worked for Southern Bell. He wanted to be a Marine pilot and astronaut, just like John Glenn, and he won appointments to both the Air Force and Naval academies.

Then, a nonpressurized commuter plane taking him to the Keys for his Navy physical aggravated an old childhood hearing loss and left him with only 30 percent hearing in one ear. No military career.

"I was devastated," Walker said. "Though I guess it is ironic that I made it to 'general' without going through any of the other ranks."

Comptroller generals, who serve 15-year terms, traditionally remain above the partisan fray, and Walker's political stripes suit that billing. As a young man in Jacksonville, he was a local Democratic committeeman. He later switched to the Republicans, then became independent about a decade ago.

He calls himself a "fiscal conservative, social progressive and very much an internationalist." He has held government positions under Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and both Bushes.

About four years ago, his alarm bells kicked into overdrive when Congress cut taxes, allowed Clinton-era budget controls to lapse and added a prescription drug benefit to Medicare without any new revenue to pay for it.

It was time to turn the traditionally staid GAO into a bully pulpit.

"There was nobody in government looking long-range, cross-cutting in a more strategic and integrated fashion at these challenges," Walker says. "GAO was uniquely positioned to do that. We are viewed as professional, objective, fact-based and nonpartisan."

Walker is also more than willing to tug at heartstrings, bordering on schmaltz. He often ends speeches with photos of his three grandchildren and how they will suffer if his generation doesn't clean its fiscal house.

He waves the flag. "A lot of people sacrificed a lot to make this nation what it is today. And I'm extremely disappointed that tradition is not being continued."

Somehow, his unflinching focus makes such sentimentality palatable, if not inspiring.

"I think I would trust him with my life," says Beryl Davis, auditor for Orlando who serves on a GAO advisory board. "When he opens his mouth, he speaks the truth. I wouldn't say that about many bureaucrats."

Stephen Nohlgren can be reached at nohlgren@sptimes.com.

FAST FACTS:

His to-do list

Walker on Social Security: People should work longer before collecting. Mandatory private accounts could help, but only if new taxes cover the cost. Social Security's wage cap could rise, so rich people pay more.

Walker on Medicare: Fixing Medicare will be much harder because America's "illogical and unsustainable" health care system needs a total revamp, he says.

Walker's solutions

- Universal access to basic services.

- Standardized results.

- Budget how much the government will spend, then stick to it.

- Inject more personal responsibility for wellness and healthy lifestyles.

David M. Walker

Current job: U.S. comptroller general, November 1998 to present.

Age: 55

Education: B.S. in accounting, Jacksonville University; senior management in government certificate, JFK School of Government at Harvard University.

Private sector jobs: Source Services Corp.; Price Waterhouse, Coopers & Lybrand; Arthur Andersen, partner and global managing director of human capital services.

Government jobs: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., acting executive director, 1985; Labor Department, assistant secretary for pension and welfare benefits, 1987-89; Social Security and Medicare public sector trustee, 1990-95.

Personal: Married 36 years, three children, three grand-children.

Other: Author, Retirement Security: Understanding and Planning Your Financial Future John Wiley & Sons, 1996; Delivering on the Promise: How to Attract, Manage and Retain Human Capital (Free Press, 1998).

[Last modified June 11, 2007, 23:21:48]