request for investigation: crew: wisconsin government accountability board: regarding wisconsin...

8/7/2019 Request for Investigation: CREW: Wisconsin Government Accountability Board: Regarding Wisconsin Governor Walk…

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CREW Icitizens.for. r e s p o n ~ i b i 1 i t yand ethics In washington

February 23, 2011

Government Accountability Board

State ofWisconsin212 E. Washington Ave. , 3d Floor

P.O. Box 7984

Madison, WI 53707-4232

VIA FAX: 608-267-0500

Dear Members of the Board:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington respectfully requests that the

Wisconsin Government Accountability Board immediately commence an investigation into

whether GovernorScott

Walkerviolated Wisconsin state law by

sending membersof theWisconsin State Patrol ("WSP" or "state troopers") to locate Democratic Senate Leader Matt

Miller.

As you are no doubt aware, Republicans in the Wisconsin state Senate asked the state

troopers to locate Sen. Miller after he and other Democratic senators left the state on February 17th

to delay passage of a Republican bill to strip public sector workers of their collective bargaining

rights and deny them certain compensation and benefits. ' Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott

Fitzgerald said he asked Governor Scott Walker to send troopers to Sen. Miller's home to send a

message to the lawmaker." Governor Walker agreed to dispatch the officers. ' Video of a state

trooper and another man , presumably Senate Sergeant-At-Arms Ted Blazel, arriving and knocking

on the door of Sen. Miller's home is available on the Internet."

Interestingly, the Superintendent of the WSP is Stephen Fitzgerald, the father of Senate

Majority Leader Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald.' Superintendent Fitzgerald

1 Scott Bauer, Troopers Sent After Wisconsin Democratic Leader - With a Message,

Chicago Sun-Times, February 19,2011.

2 Wisconsin Senate Republicans Send State Trooper After Democratic Leader Mark Miller,

AssociatedPress , February 18,2011 (available at

http: //www.postcrescent.com/article /20 110218/APCO101/110218046/Wisconsin-Senate-Republicans-send-state-trooper-after-Democratic-leader-Mark-Miller).

3 Id.

4 http ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pihlr17nwbM.

5 Mary Spicuzza, Top Lawmaker's Father Stephen Fitzgerald to Lead State Patrol,

Wisconsin State Journal, February 8, 2011.

1400Eye Street, NW , Suite 450,Wa shington , D.C . 20005 I 202.408.5565 phone I 202.588.5020 fax www .citizensforethics.




February 23,2011

Page Two

assumed leadership of the WSP on February 14,2011, only three days before his son asked the

governor to send in the troopers."

By sending members of the WSP to send a message to Sen. Miller, Governor Walker

overstepped his authority and violated the law. First, according to its website, the WSP "enforces

traffic and criminal laws; helps motorists in need; inspects trucks, school buses and ambulances;

and helps local law enforcement agencies with natural disasters or civil disturbances."? Nothing in

the agency's mission indicates WSP officers may be sent on political errands by the governor or

members of the state legislature. In fact, Wisconsin law is quite specific about the occasions upon

which the governor may call upon the WSP. For instance:

If the governor determines that a conditionof civil disorder or a threat to the safety

of persons on state property or damage or destruction to state property exists, he or

she may, without declaring an emergency, call out the state traffic patrol or the

conservation warden service or members of that patrol or service for use in

connection with the threat to life or property."

Even this provision, however, is limited:

If the governor calls out the state traffic patrol or conservation warden service, or

members of the patrol or service, under s. 323.12(2)(c), the state traffic patrol

officers or conservation wardens subject to the call shall have the powersof a law

enforcement officer for the duration determined by the governor, except that the

officers and wardens may not be used in or take part in any dispute or controversy

between an employer and employee concerning wages, hours, labor, or workingconditions."

As all parties freely admit, the legislation at the heart of the current controversy is Senate

Bill 11. The bill, drafted by the non-partisan Legislative Reference Bureau, includes a summary,

which provides that, among other things, the act relates to "compensation and fringe benefitsof

public employees?'?

6 See id.

7 http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/about/structure/dsp.htm.

8 Wis. Stat. § 323.l2(2)(c) (2011).

9 Wis. Stat. § 323.17 (2011).

10 Senate Bill 11, State ofWisconsin 2011-2012 Legislature, January 2011 Special Session,

February 14,2011 (available at http://legis.wisconsin.govIJR1SB-11.pdf).




February 23, 2011

Page Three

Thus , the facts make clear that Governor Walker has used the state troopers in a dispute

between an employer - the state of Wisconsin - and employees - public employees of the state ofWisconsin. Therefore, calling upon the troopers to assist the governor and the Senate Republicans

to obtain the presence of Sen. Miller and other Democratic senators to end an employment dispute

is a blatant violation ofWisconsin law.

The Government Accountability Board has jurisdiction over violations of the Wisconsin

Code ofEthics for Public Officials. II Under the code , " [n]o state public official may use or attempt

to use the public position held by the public official to influence or gain unlawful benefits,

advantages or privileges personally or for others. ?" By abusing his position as governor to ask the

WSP to send a message to Sen. Miller , Governor Walker obtained an unlawful benefit - the use of

the troopers - in an effort to gain an advantage in his wage dispute with the state 's public

employees. Further, it appears that Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Wisconsin State

Patrol Superintendent Stephen Fitzgerald may have conspired with the governor to unlawfully send

state troopers after Sen. Miller, providing the governor with an unlawful benefit.

While Governor Walker and Majority Leader Fitzgerald may have legitimate political and

policy concerns, those concerns do not allow them to violate the law by forcing state troopers to

illegally intervene in an employment dispute with political overtones. As many across the nation

watch the political gamesmanship in Wisconsin, the Government Accountability Board must act

quickl y and firmly to ensure all Americans that the abuse of law enforcement authority will not be

tolerated and that even powerful political officials are not above the law.

Me anie Sloan

Executive Director

cc: Honorable J.B. Van Hollen

Wisconsin Attorney General

II http://gab.wi.gov/complaints.

12 Wis. Stat. § 19.45(5) (2011).

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