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Having lived through it, I call BS on the following statement by the author:

Despite the county’s Democratic lean, in this climate Walker was able to win a special election for Milwaukee County Executive as a non-partisan reformer—literally, since all of the state’s county offices are non-partisan. Thereafter he relied on the low turnout in county races to ensure his re-election, while he leveraged his position as head of the state’s largest county for his eventual statewide run.

It was Thomas Ament's pension money grab for himself and others in Milwaukee County - which included the Public Schools rank & file - that provided the impetus for Walker's County Executive run. A pissed off electorate, aghast at Ament's secretive self enrichment deal, provided the votes needed. Staying true to his promise of reform Scott Walker did just that.

I distinctly remember an incident where Walker wanted an additional $30,000 cut from the budget of the County Park system. An executive of the park system took a hardline stance saying NO cuts to the funding. Walker eliminated his position, which provided three times the level of cuts he was looking for in the first place.

Governor Jim (Hairy Knuckles) Doyle followed the same path as Ament had previously, handing out bennies to his buddies from the taxpayer cookie jar, ultimately creating the largest budget deficit in Wisconsin history. That is what opened the path for Scott Walker to become the state's Governor. True to form, Scott Walker turned the largest deficit in the history of the state into a surplus in an amazingly short period of time using good governance as his tools. No draconian cuts, no crippling austerity measures.

For the author to pass this off as luck and good timing is absurd.