Chippewa County stands to lose extra funds for prosecutor
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By MARK GUNDERMAN mark.gunderman@lee.net
Wednesday, February 13, 2008 11:23 AM CST
Chippewa County District Attorney Jon Theisen wishes the state and federal governments would settle their disputes and stabilize his staff so he can spend less time handling personnel issues and more time as a prosecutor.
But as it stands now, Theisen stands to lose an on-again, off-again federally-funded position by the end of the year, causing more uncertainty in his office.
A state lawmaker, though, is trying to help. State Sen. Jim Sullivan, D-Wauwatosa has drafted a bill laying out about $880,000 in state dollars to save 21 prosecutors across the state, including positions in Chippewa, Brown, Milwaukee, Dane, Outagamie, St. Croix and Waukesha counties.
The problem came when Congress scaled back federal grants to fight drugs, guns and domestic violence in December. Counties stand to lose positions that were funded by those federal dollars.
In Chippewa County, fortunately, all that is currently at stake is a quarter-time (.25) position, but Theisen has been there before when the stakes were a lot higher.
Just as Theisen took office, a cut in federal dollars cost him a full-time position that focused on domestic violence prosecution.
Scrambling to save it, Theisen got it back through the efforts of State Rep. Jeff Wood (R-Chippewa Falls), who helped get a partial new state-funded position for the office.
Then the federal government came in with a quarter-time addition to it; then the feds took that away, then put it back. Now it looks like it’s going again.
“I’m wasting time lobbying and going around trying to keep positions filled. And I have real people with full-time jobs in the office, and their jobs are eliminated,” Theisen said.
He’s lost people, re-filled the positions, only to have further change come, causing more re-training time.
“It seems terrible inefficient,” he said.
Theisen said his understanding is that the dispute is not so much over funding, but over control — deciding who should allocate the money. That is, whether the federal government should allocate the money to Chippewa County or allocate it to the state and let it decide who gets the money.
“In the long run, they need to figure that out,” Theisen said.
Sullivan’s proposal comes as district attorneys across the state continue to struggle with a lack of help.
A state audit released last summer found the state needs about 120 additional prosecutors to keep up with burgeoning caseloads. Sullivan, who co-chairs the Legislature’s audit committee, said his bill is meant to keep prosecutors the state still has.
“It is about preventing further backsliding when we are already in a severe deficit,” he said.
Not everyone is happy with the idea, though. A handful of prosecutors have attacked it, saying they deserve the money because they’re worse off.
Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe DeCecco said the dollars would be better spent adding prosecutor positions in rural counties, where some district attorneys have only part-time help. But the Legislature cares more about urban centers like Milwaukee, he said.
“They’re the big bear in the woods. They bark and the Legislature wags their tail, for crying out loud,” DeCecco said. “We’ve been asking for help for years. We’re just being ignored. The politics here just drives me nuts.“
Sauk County District Attorney Pat Barrett wrote in an e-mail to DeCecco that even if the counties lose their federal positions, they’d still be in better shape to handle their caseloads than their smaller neighbors.
If lawmakers dole out the money to save the urban prosecutors, she said, they might feel they’ve given district attorneys enough and won’t revisit staff additions in rural areas for a long time.
“We should stick together, but my definition of that does not mean this kind of request,” Barrett wrote. “Some of our oxes should not get gored while others get saved.“
Sullivan said the bill isn’t meant to solve the prosecutor shortage. He just wants to provide a safety net until the state’s next budget cycle begins in 2009.
Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Jeff Greipp doubles as the legislative liaison for the state assistant prosecutors union. He says his county could lose as many as 16 positions without Sullivan’s bill.
“When we had the audit, it was clear to both the Legislature, prosecutors and victim groups we’re in a state of crisis. Now we’re in a state of emergency,” Greipp said. “We have to have this bill to restore us to crisis level.“
Brown County District Attorney John Zakowski said DeCecco makes a good point — “if you’re going to spend money, spend money on the counties that need it,” he said — and the Legislature must address the chronic prosecutor shortage soon.
But something must be done immediately to rescue the federal positions. If not, “an intolerable situation would get worse,” Zakowski said.
Sullivan has yet to formally introduce the measure, but its prospects look dim. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn for the year in a matter of weeks.
Also, his plan calls for using tax dollars, making it a tough sell in the state’s current economic downturn. Fiscal estimates say Wisconsin could face a budget shortfall of up to $400 million.
“Now is not the time to be spending (tax dollars),” said Rep. Kitty Rhoades, R-Hudson, co-chair of the Legislature’s finance committee. “We don’t have any.“
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