There has been a battle brewing over the past month in Wisconsin over the jobs of the state's hundreds of prosecutors. To bring those unfamiliar with this particular underhanded scheme of Scott Walker to balance the budget on the backs of the workers of Wisconsin up to speed, here's a brief summary.
Under former Governor Jim Doyle, all state workers were required to take furlough days as one of his quick-fix ways to balance the budget. Most state workers had their newest contracts drawn up to include 16 total furlough days over the next two years. However, the Assistant District Attorneys of the State of Wisconsin, all state employees (not county employees, as they are in some states) had negotiated a new contract agreeing to 10 unpaid furlough days over two years just before Doyle decreed the 16 day plan in effect.
The ADA's had negotiated this particular number in large part because in 2003 they had agreed to take, and did take, 5 furlough days that year, a concession to Doyle who approached them in particular about a budget hole in their department funding at the time. No other state workers took furloughs that year, and as it turns out the budget problem was not only due to issues with the ADA's salaries, but with the entire state.
So the current active ADA contract stipulates that they will take a total of 10 furlough days over the two years ending at the end of 2011.
Enter Scott Walker and his brain trust administration. Last month, the ADA's were sent notices that if they did not all take an additional 6 furlough days before July 2, 2011, there would be layoffs of personnel. Walker used the excuse that some of the other state workers had "Me too" clauses in their contracts, that essentially state that they cannot be forced to make concessions that other state workers do not have to make. Walker claimed that the failure of the ADA's to take the extra 6 days of furlough would force the State to pay all the other state employees back for the 6 additional days of unpaid furlough they had taken.
Walker claimed, loudly and publicly, that the ADA's actions were costing the state $11.8 million dollars - a figure that he never backed up with facts. When the ADA's continued to balk at taking the days off, since they had a contract that stipulated 10 furlough days, Walker upped the ante. Two weeks ago, the Walker administration sent out another notice to all the ADA's threatening layoffs, but this time he detailed more specific threats. The letter stated that all probationary ADA's (those who had worked less that 12 months so far) would be laid off, and all other ADA's would be reduced to 80% time, with a similar reduction in benefits. Those ADA's who already worked part time would be reduced to 40% positions, and lose their benefits entirely.
Again, there was no explanation as to how Walker arrived at this drastic solution, or how the savings to be gained by firing over 10% of the ADA's (a lot of turnover occurs in the job, so many are new) and reducing the hundreds of others to 80% status would compensate for the 6 unpaid days he felt were due. A cynic might think he was being purely punitive, and that this was extortion. That cynic would be correct.
The ADA's, not known as a liberal bunch in general, refused. They had already taken cuts to their salaries two months ago, in the form of reduced health care and pension contributions from the state, just like every other state worker. They also had a contract with the state stipulating that they could not be forced to take more than the 10 furlough days. A contract - a legally binding document - that apparently Scott Walker did not feel he needed to uphold. And as it turns out, a state statute specifies that only District Attorneys can fire ADA's. Not the Governor, not the Department of Administration, no one. Only a DA can fire or layoff an ADA. It is the law in the State of Wisconsin.
And yet, after having all of this pointed out by the ADA's union, Scott Walker and his administration were still persisting and sent out the final letters this week, stating that the layoffs and reductions in positions and pay were going into effect this Sunday, May 8. As a fun aside, the letters (which have been coming primarily from the Office of State Employee Relations, a tool of the Governor's that deals directly with the state employees) also indicated that the workload of the prosecutors would stay the same. The ADA's would need to do the same amount of work, just in four instead of five days a week.
The past few days have provoked a scramble among the DA offices throughout the State. Some, like the Milwaukee County DA's office, issued statements noting that their ADA's would continue to work five days a week, despite the pay cut, as the only way to insure that the people of Wisconsin, victims and criminals alike, receive timely justice. Others wondered how they were supposed to continue to function, with all of their prosecutors (all still in probation) gone. Other DA's questioned publicly which crimes the Governor and his administration did not want to prosecute anymore.
I am proud to say that the ADA's did not flinch - but finally, late this afternoon, Scott Walker did. He released a statement rescinding the layoff notices, and claimed that his concern for justice and the people of Wisconsin was what had prompted his change of heart.
"It's unfortunate that the previous administration largely tied the state's hands and limited our ability to balance our budget without significant cuts to public safety," Walker said in a statement. "However, public safety is a top concern of my administration and thousands of Wisconsin families that cannot be disregarded. For this reason, we will ensure that prosecutors are not furloughed and receive the funding necessary to pursue justice."
Those of us who truly understand Walker's agenda, however, should not be fooled. As it happens, a few hours before his "change of heart"Walker and his folks at the OSER received a letter from the DA's of the state which explicitly outlined the exact laws he was breaking with his maneuvering. It also very pointedly explained the consequences of breaking these laws, and given that it was written by a bunch of attorneys who prosecute crimes for a living, I don't think Walker wanted to see if they were bluffing.
Many people have noted, quite rightly, that Walker is an uneducated buffoon who, like many other uneducated buffoons, does not even have enough sense to surround himself with smarter and more educated people than he (something he shares with Sarah Palin). No one in Walker's administration is an attorney. No one in his inner circle, or his core of advisors, understands even the most rudimentary basics of the law. I think this is partly an explanation for why so many of his executive decisions and laws seem so questionably legal. They probably are not legal. Walker does not care about that fact, as long as he achieves his goals. His administration and advisors aren't capable of evaluating the legality of his maneuvers, and they don't care either.
However, for the first time, Walker has completely backed away from one of his plans. I can assure anyone it was not because his need for justice for all Wisconsinites, but perhaps because he was challenged in a way that felt threatening. This gives us all hope that continued challenges will start to chip away at his ruinous and radical agenda.