Move extends trend; critics argue it politicizes posts
Madison — Gov. Scott Walker will be able to name political appointees to fill three dozen civil-service jobs that handle open records requests from the public under the budget-repair law he signed last week.
The changes affecting 15 state agencies and offices are among the provisions of the law that drew less attention over the past month because of the epic fight over its provisions stripping public employee unions of most of their bargaining power.
Walker's separate 2011-'13 budget proposal would also make a political appointment out of another key civil service job - the top lawyer spot at the agency overseeing state labor law.
Jay Heck, executive director of the Wisconsin affiliate of the liberal group Common Cause, said the change to political appointments didn't save the state any money and shouldn't have been included in the budget-repair bill. The measure continued a process - begun under previous Republican and Democratic governors - to exert political influence over more public jobs, said Heck, whose group advocates for taxpayer funding of political campaigns and openness in government.
Heck said political appointees may be more interested in fulfilling the letter of the law in open records cases than the spirit.
"I don't think there's any question that a political appointee, their inclination is going to be more toward protecting their boss than complying with an open records request," Heck said.
Dane County officials - County Executive Kathleen Falk and District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, both Democrats - have filed separate court actions seeking to block the law from being published on March 25 and taking effect the following day. Hearings in those cases are scheduled for Friday, and a ruling is expected from Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi on whether to issue a temporary restraining order to block the law from being published.
The law would make existing civil-service positions into 37 new political appointments, including 14 general counsels, 14 communications positions in state agencies and other positions, including legislative liaisons doing lobbying for agencies. That would allow Walker and agency secretaries to hire and fire employees in those positions at will.
Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said that made sense because workers in those jobs represent Walker as part of their work.
"These positions, by their very nature, represent the governor and the administration to legislators, members of the media and other members of the general public. It is reasonable to have them appointed," Werwie said.
Most of the positions have at least some duties providing information to the public. For instance, the general counsels serve as their agencies' top lawyers and handle requests under the state's open records law as well as a host of other issues, from advising agency secretaries to personnel matters.
Political considerations
"I think it's important that agencies have public spokespeople who feel a sense of responsibility to the public and the public's right to know. Anything that erodes that is bad for Wisconsin," said Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.Lueders is the news editor of Isthmus, which along with The Associated Press sued Walker on March 4 to win the speedy release of e-mails sent to Walker by the public commenting on the budget-repair law. Walker's office agreed Wednesday to release the records and pay attorney's fees but admitted no fault.
Under the law, the civil-service jobs would be classed as division administrator jobs, a kind of political appointment, and would increase that class of political appointments in the affected agencies by about 50%, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
Republicans argue that those civil service positions have already been politicized because some Democrats and former aides to Gov. Jim Doyle now occupy them, including former spokesmen for Doyle such as Carla Vigue and Lee Sensenbrenner. Democrats say those positions were awarded through a competitive process.
Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), the co-chairman of the Legislature's budget committee, said that he thought that a governor and agency secretaries are entitled to have legal and public relations staff that share their vision.
"You want somebody on the same page," Vos said.
In the past, general counsels have faced political pressure over issues such as open records.
Jim Thiel was general counsel at the Department of Transportation for 31 years but was moved into a staff attorney job in 2004 after angering then-Secretary Frank Busalacchi - a Doyle appointee - over the release of department records under the open records law. Thiel filed and lost a complaint with the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission saying he was unfairly demoted under the civil service system.
"My opinion frankly is that it would be better if they were not (politically) appointed," Thiel said of general counsel jobs.
But the move toward political appointments could be good for Thiel personally.
Thiel said he filed paperwork last week to retire. But then on Friday Bob Jambois - the general counsel who replaced Thiel - stepped down from his job. Secretary Mark Gottlieb then asked Thiel to take over as chief counsel, at least for the interim, according to Thiel. Thiel said he may also be considered for the job permanently once the job is converted to a political appointment.
Value in move seen
Meanwhile, the departing Jambois said political appointments are a good idea despite his own decision.Jambois, who served as the Democratic district attorney in Kenosha County for more than 17 years, said he retired both because he was told he wouldn't be appointed and because he "couldn't stomach" some of Walker's policies.
"I have to say that I'm not opposed to the idea of the general counsel being appointed. I felt it was my job to assist the secretary to implement the policies of the governor of the state," Jambois said.
Jambois noted that Doyle had also sought unsuccessfully in the 2009-'11 budget bill to make the general counsel positions at certain major agencies a political appointment. As the top DOT lawyer, the general counsel works on everything from open records requests to the acquisition of private property for highways through eminent domain to cases involving the State Patrol, he said.
"Pretty much everything that DOT does goes through the general counsel's office," Jambois said.
Jambois said he did see one state agency where the general counsel should be insulated from politics - the top legal job at the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission. That agency, headed up by three commissioners appointed by the governor to staggered six-year terms, handles union bargaining disputes and oversees state labor laws - the focus of most of the controversy over Walker's recently passed legislation.
Walker's 2011-'13 budget bill would also make the agency's general counsel, now a civil-service position, into a political appointment.
"That is one that absolutely should be a civil-service position," Jambois said. "The WERC has to stand up to the governor on occasion, and the general counsel has had to stand up to the commission on occasion."
At least one other position in state government, a legislative liaison at the Department of Workforce Development, would be made into a political appointment as well.
Peter Davis has held the WERC's civil-service general counsel position for three decades. He said he would be able to retire or bump into another civil-service job and wasn't concerned for himself.
But "clearly I think it's a bad policy judgment to politicize an agency in that way," Davis said.
Judy Neumann, who was appointed chairwoman of the commission by Doyle, said the general counsel deals with both labor and management groups with often conflicting interests. She said it was important for the general counsel to be seen as fair and unconcerned about whether his advice would lead to his dismissal.
"It's bound to affect the soundness and the reliability of the advice," Neumann said of the proposed move.
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