Wis. committee approves money for protest security

TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. - State lawmakers released about $7.4 million on Wednesday to reimburse scores of law enforcement agencies that helped guard the state Capitol during massive protests over Republican Gov. Scott Walker's contentious collective bargaining proposal earlier this year.

Seven state agencies and 199 local agencies have asked the Wisconsin Department of Administration for about $8.1 million to cover meals, salaries, benefits, mileage and lodging during the protests, which stretched on for three weeks straight.

Reimbursement requests came from agencies as far from Madison as Superior and Bayfield County. The Madison Police Department's request was the largest of any local agency at $735,624, followed by the Dane County Sheriff's Department at 534,080. The State Patrol's $2.6 million request was easily the largest of any agency, according to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau analysis.

The Joint Finance Committee voted unanimously to release $7.4 million to DOA to cover the state agencies and 195 locals.

The panel chose to withhold about $751,000 for the four remaining agencies until DOA finishes reviewing their requests. DOA hasn't finished reviewing claims from Madison, the Tomah Police Department, the Columbus Police Department and the Village of Colfax Police Department.

DOA requested help under mutual aid agreements in February when tens of thousands of demonstrators converged on the state Capitol to protest Walker's plan to strip most public workers of nearly all their union rights. Protesters occupied the building around the clock for nearly three weeks while thousands gathered outside on the Capitol square.

Fourteen Senate Democrats fled the state during the protests to stall a vote on the plan, but the measure eventually passed without them. The issue is still simmering, though.

Voters ousted two Republican senators from office this summer in recall elections spurred by their support for the union plan. Protesters still gather in the Capitol every lunch hour to sing songs and bellow warnings that they plan to recall Walker next year.

On Thursday, a group of Assembly Republicans sent a letter to the panel urging them to withhold payment for Madison police and the Dane County Sheriff's Department. They questioned whether officers from both agencies limited their functions because former Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Sheriff Dave Mahoney supported the protesters' side.

The letter said Mahoney made a decision to pull his deputies away from the Capitol's entrances, a move that enabled protesters to corner Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, and Cieslewicz told Madison Police Chief Noble Wray to keep his officers from arresting anyone.

Decorum at the committee meeting broke down after Grothman, a member of the panel, urged DOA to scrutinize whether Madison police and Dane County deputies did their jobs. He said the officers could have been confused by their leaders' directives.

Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, one of the 14 Democrats who left the state, called Grothman's suggestion an insult to officers who risk their lives every day. Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, one of the committee's co-chairs, tried to interrupt Taylor, sparking a brief shouting match.

Finally, Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, told committee members they should trust DOA's reviews of the agencies' requests, pointing out the state has an obligation under mutual aid agreements to pay them.

The committee agreed to accept DOA's findings for the four remaining agencies under a passive review process. That means the money will go out if no committee member objects to DOA's final tallies. DOA officials expect to finish those reviews within the next few weeks.

Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said He told other police commanders his officers wouldn't make any arrests without his approval to ensure they weren't used as a political tool. His officers did their jobs regardless of Cieslewicz's stance on the collective bargaining issue, he said.

"Not at any point in time do I recall Sen. Grothman being at any of these meetings," Wray said.

Mahoney, for his part, said he ordered deputies away from the doors because DOA wasn't honoring a court order to re-open the Capitol after the protesters had left en masse.

He said his deputies helped Grothman inside the building as protesters surrounded him. Republicans' assertions his deputies didn't perform their duties, he said, are "absolutely wrong ... and inflammatory and degrading to the men and women who do their jobs every day."