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The transition of power is a defining trait of American government. These occasions, which can be so calamitous in other countries, proceed calmly here. This January, in statehouses across America, Democrat governors will turn over the keys to the executive office to a Republican.

Nowhere will the transition being starker than Wisconsin with Jim Doyle, a New Deal Democrat, graciously handing the reins of government over to Scott Walker, a Reagan Republican. The transition will be, as it has always been, smooth and dignified.

For those planning to attend the Capitol ceremonies, a word of warning; bundle up. For as soon as the oath of office is administered, it will be as though the windows throughout the Capitol will open wide and the dank mustiness that has infested the building will give way to waves of bracing fresh air.

Those who have been paying attention know that inauguration day will be a busy one for Governor Walker. He’s planning to stop by Attorney General Van Hollen’s office to get him working on the lawsuit challenging Obamacare. He’s also reserved time that day to sign an order calling the Legislature into a special session on jobs and the economy. Governor Walker seems a misnomer since he seems hell-bent on hitting the ground running.

Let me suggest one addition to an already overburdened to do list. In that first week, Governor Walker should ask the Legislature to begin the process of reforming our public pension system. Taxpayers are expecting that pension reform will play a key role in filling the state budget gap.

Before the end of 2011, it is likely that state government and local governments throughout Wisconsin will begin reducing taxpayer funding of public employee pensions, a move that will be embraced by the public but not by state employees, university faculty, teachers, firefighters, librarians and every other category of public employees.

This is why our new governor should do what he has done so effectively in heading Milwaukee County – lead by example. The governor should tell all of Wisconsin that he, along with all of the people he will be appointing to state government positions, will be the first employees to step forward to have their pension contributions reduced; he will cut in half the amount that taxpayers will be asked to pay for the pensions of the governor and the top leaders in government. With this one bold step, the governor will signal that nothing in government– not even the petrified pension system – is immune from change.

Of course, to fully reform of the Wisconsin’s public pension system will take more time, but the new governor should take this one swift, very personal action to signal that he and his team will not participate in the pension system handed down from Governor Doyle. Ahhh, you can almost smell the fresh air.

Would this move mute the reaction from labor unions later in 2011 when they will be asked to curtail the taxpayers’ pension contribution? Unlikely, however, for individual union members and their families it will signal that their new Chief Executive stands with them, that they will all share in restoring fiscal responsibility to government. And to the citizens of Wisconsin, there could be no clearer signal that November 2, 2010 truly marked a new morning in Wisconsin.

-December 6, 2010