David M. Walker (born October 2, 1951) is an American CPA and public servant who served as the Comptroller General of the United States from 1998 to 2008, and is founder and CEO of the Comeback America Initiative (CAI) from 2010 to 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, in 1951. He received his B.S. in accounting from Jacksonville University, a Senior Management in Government Certificate in public policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, 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.
He worked in human resources at accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand before becoming Houston Director and then Eastern Regional Director of Source Finance. He was subsequently hired by accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP, rising to become a partner and global managing director. From 1990 to 1995 he was a Public Trustee for Social Security and Medicare, and Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefit Programs.
Career as Comptroller General
David Walker served as Comptroller general of the United States from 1998 to 2008. He began his term when he took his oath of office on November 9, 1998. He was appointed by Bill Clinton. While at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Walker 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 also embarked on a Fiscal Wake-up Tour, partnering with the Brookings Institution, the Concord Coalition, and The Heritage Foundation to alert Americans of the country's long-term fiscal imbalance. 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. Walker left the GAO to head the Peterson Foundation on March 12, 2008.
Peter G. Peterson Foundation
In 2008 Walker was personally recruited by Peter G. Peterson, co-founder of the Blackstone Group, and former Secretary of Commerce under Richard Nixon, to lead his new foundation. The Foundation distributed the documentary film, I.O.U.S.A., which follows Walker and Robert Bixby, director of the Concord Coalition, around the nation, as they engage Americans in town-hall style meetings. Warren Buffett, Alan Greenspan, Paul Volcker, and Robert Rubin also appear.
Peterson was cited by The New York Times 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, he argued that the credit crunch could portend a far greater fiscal crisis; and on CNN, he said that the United States is "underwater to the tune of $50 trillion" in long-term obligations.