David M. Walker assesses the tax tea party movement

David M. Walker served as the comptroller general of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) from 1998 to 2008. In these positions, he was considered to be the chief accountant of the U.S: federal government.

In the May 21, 2010 Jacksonville.com blog post, "Former U.S. Comptroller General (an accountability guy) on the tea party," David Hunt provides David Walker's reply to a question about the tax tea party movement in the United States. According to Walker:

"On one hand, I share a lot of their concerns. On the other, I think we have to realize that the answers to our problems are not in the extremes. They're not in the far left or far right. There's a sensible center. While you want to change direction, you don't want to polarize Washington into further extremes. I understand public discontent, but I want it to be informed and constructive - not destructive - and not cause an increase in ideological divide. ... There is no party of fiscal responsibility. Neither Republicans or Democrats have proven that to us when they were in power. Maybe the mantra is "when in doubt, throw them out," but there needs to be an informed view."

Walker earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Jacksonville University in 1973. Since March 2008, Walker has been the president of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation where he tries to educate the public on the need for fiscal discipline and possible ways to achieve it. Walker's 2010 book, Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility provides elaboration of Walker's ideas.