Trooper Denying Access to Democratic Lawmaker
The Wisconsin State Troopers Union is alarmed by Governor Walker’s order to deploy them in what may have be an illegal mission to restrict access to the Wisconsin Capitol. They are concerned that the deployment may wreak financial havoc on the individual troopers in the event that lawsuits are filed against them. They are requesting that the state Department of Transportation clarify its position regarding providing legal defense for the troopers, as is offered in the line of their normal duties.
Jack Craver of The Daily Page reports:
The law enforcement officers of the State Patrol continue to follow the orders of Governor Walker and Division of State Patrol Superintendent Fitzgerald, despite concerns that doing so may be illegal. The decision of Governor Walker and Superintendent Fitzgerald to call out the State Patrol, however, places the members of the State Patrol in the way of great personal harm.
When Troopers act pursuant to their statutory authority as sworn law enforcement officers while protecting Wisconsin’s citizens on our State’s highways, Wisconsin law offers them legal representation and indemnification for lawsuits alleging violations of a citizen’s civil rights. See Wisconsin Statutes § 895.46(1)(a). However, the protections of this law only apply in circumstances where a law enforcement officer acts “within the scope of their employment.” Because of concerns that the call out by Governor Walker may be illegal under Wisconsin Statutes § 323.17, a ruling by a court or jury that a Trooper was not acting “within the scope of their employment, ” could be devastating to a Trooper and their family.
This isn’t Governor Walker’s first go around with deploying the WST in a manner which may violate the law. Hrafnkell Haraldsson reported for PoliticusUSA that CREW previously filed charges against the Governor for his illegal use of troopers in a labor dispute, which violates Wisconsin law. Walker deployed troopers to Democratic Senate Leader Mark Miller’s home to deliver “a message,” hoping to force the lawmaker back into session so that the bill could be passed without negotiation with unions.
“The laws of Wisconsin are very specific as to when and why the WSP can be employed by the governor, such as civil disorder or threat to the safety of individuals, or a state of emergency, none of which applied. And the governor absolutely cannot employ the WSP “in any dispute or controversy between an employer and employee concerning wages, hours, labor, or working conditions.”
Superintendent Stephen Fitzgerald, the head of the WST, is ironically the father of Republican Senate Majority Leader Fitzgerald and it was the Senate Majority Leader who asked Governor Walker to deploy the troopers to deliver a message to a political opponent in a labor dispute. The father of Republican Senate Majority Leader Fitzgerald was just appointed to his position of superintendent of WST on February 14, 2011.
CREW alleges that Walker utilized 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.
As the head of the WST continues to allow his troopers to be deployed in what may be a violation of both the letter and intent of the law by restricting access to the Capitol, the WST union leader is concerned that the ramifications of the allegedly illegal orders of both the head of WST and the Governor will fall upon the heads of the troopers, should a lawsuit be filed in regards to their limiting access to the State Capitol in violation of a court order to provide access to the public during business hours.
So now we have arguably two counts of Governor Walker deploying troopers against labor in a labor dispute. Walker could argue that he deployed the troopers to the Capitol out of concern for public safety; however, given the fact that he ordered the troopers to restrict access to the Capitol and they did so during the bill’s vote, and they further restricted access to Democratic lawmakers during that vote, it would seem the WST’s union leader’s concerns are justified.
The judge described Governor Walker’s restriction to the Capitol as unconstitutional when he made his ruling that access be restored to the level it was prior to the protests. Also, numerous police reports and the Judge’s opinion reiterated the fact that the protests have been peaceful.
It’s reprehensible that Walker and Fitzgerald would put the troopers in the position of possibly committing crimes while acting on their orders. If Walker didn’t like the message the hundreds of thousands of protesters were sending him about his union busting bill, he should have had the courage and the integrity to sit down with labor leaders instead of ramming the bill through in another potentially illegal act of passing a bill that required a quorum without one, as well as violating Wisconsin’s open meeting laws.
While these individual violations may or may not amount to successful suits, Walker is clearly abusing his power and showing exceptionally poor leadership. He could have easily made a show of negotiating with labor leaders and still shoved his bill down their throats, but he is so intent on putting on a razzle dazzle show for the Right wing national Republican Party and his Koch brothers dollars that he is actually enjoying the image of himself as a successful dictator.
Hubris and arrogance on this level are never well received by the people. Walker may get away with his draconian power grabs, but the stench he’s leaving in his wake will damage the Republican Party for years to come and it’s shameful that Walker is putting the troopers in the position of violating the law under his orders.
Related posts:
- CREW Uncovers Scott Walker’s Illegal Use of Wisconsin Troopers
- Wisconsin Protesters Already Rallying Against Walker’s Union Bust
- The Religious Right Cheers The Destruction Of The Wisconsin Teachers Union
- Fox Ignores Wisconsin Painters Union Offer to Clean Capitol for Free
- Democratic Lawmaker Denied Entrance to Wisconsin Capitol
I also believe that in Wisconsin and other states in a similar position, the GOP will pay a heavy political price for years to come. Their clumsy, ham-handed efforts to do the bidding of their corporate masters are alienating a large number of people. In the case of Wisconsin, the Democratic mayor of Milwaukee, Mr. Barlett, whom Walker defeated, would soundly defeat Walker if there was a do-over gubernatorial election today. I feel badly for the unionized state troopers because whether they agree with Walker’s actions or not, they have no choice. They are keenly aware that they are being pitted against fellow unionized workers, and they are justifiably afraid of being penalized in court as a result.
It all boils down to the perils of voting in a sociopath like Walker, who is doing the bidding of his equally sociopathic benefactors, the hated Koch brothers. He didn’t campaign on these things, because he knew he would have lost the election.
“Hubris” derives from Greek ‘yvris, which translates from modern Greek as “abuse”, but had and has the fuller sense of an arrogance so great as to be abusive. Either way, it leads to a revulsion among those who witness it, here or beyond, that it calls down punishment. It is this ‘yvris which constitutes the cardinal sin of pride: cardinal because it is at the root of every cold-blooded sin against humanity. I won’t speculate about the resulting long, hot summer with no ice cream, but it appears to invoke some kind of karma.
“Walker may get away with his draconian power grabs, but ”
He’s not going to get away with it, Wisconsin will be sure to see to that.
Perhaps, in the future, simply assuming that he’ll get away with it, and printing as much might not be the best tack to go on. It seems a bit defeatist at best and at worst makes it seems as if the author has already resigned himself and the readers to a fact. One that is not in point, a fact, and ascribes a victory to Walker, that he hasn’t won.
Maybe you should read Sarah’s other articles before you make assumptions. She’s one of the few people writing about it every day. Walker is getting away with it right now. Gwen can’t be impeached and recall takes a year before they can try it.
Nothing like illegal orders, and as we know, the old excuse “I was only obeying orders” doesn’t work too well. I sympathize with the troopers who have been put in this terrible position by Koch’s henchmen in Wisconsin government. I hope retribution will be just and harsh but leave the unfortunately troopers out of it, who were, after all, taken advantage of by the oligarchs.
Well said. I too hope that the Troopers are left out of any dispute from the public. Although I disagree with limiting the access to the State Capitol, as a LE Officer I understand following orders in the effort to save your job.
the more the GOP thinks they have people in their sticky fingers, the more will slip thru… i hope the likes of bucky walker, and his pals, palin, bachmann try to run the GOP show, the better for dems. the sideshow will suck all the oxygen from anyone in the GOP who might be a contender….
best thing that has happened to the labor movement in decades…. this is grass roots, not paid for by the cock bros…
If he’s making illegal orders, then Walker can be removed from office immediately, via impeachment. We don’t have to wait for January.
A trooper has the right to refuse to do actions that violate law. Many see it as a duty as well as a right.
Sadly they can’t impeach him unfortunately – unless there are Republicans who will do the right thing instead of sticking by their leader no matter what. They have the lower house. Even after they recall the senators, they will still have this problem.
If a law enforcement officer is told to bar all, and only, members of a certain party from a legislative session, he has to know that order is unlawful on its face. Nonetheless, that ought not to let superiors who gave the order off the hook, and if Governor Walker is neither impeached nor prosecuted, maybe he can be persuaded to get out of Dodge, like Nixon.
So where are the courts? When the judge issued a court order for Walker to restore access to the Capitol building, he simply ignored it. Nothing happened to him.
He’s giving illegal orders and the courts seem oblivious. Does anyone care about the rule of law anymore?
It’s fine to say that he will pay politically at election time (or when he can be recalled) – but there’s a whole lot of damage he has and will do until then. Surely there has to be some judicial consequences for issuing illegal orders and defying court orders.
We know CREW has filed charges, however it is up to the prosecuting attorney at that point to take it up. I’m not really sure where that’s at right now. At right now I’m sure they(CREW) will be adding the second charges on as well. It’s all up to the prosecuting attorney as far as I know, and I certainly could be wrong because no one else really has the right to bring the charges before the court. If he is a Republican that I can imagine we will see the charges brought to court sometime in the fall of the year 3067
We just dream that the courts act fast for the rich and powerful
I’m no expert, but I am a lawyer, and if I were going to file a suit on behalf of anyone whose rights a Wisconsin State Trooper violated while enforcing the Governor’s orders via his recently appointed hack, I would not list the individual trooper as the defendant, but the Governor and his hack, and both in their official capacities.
I’m a staunch conservative, and have been appalled by Walker his minion’s conduct these last few months. I cringed with the Dems rammed health care down our throats, but applauded the sweeping losses that resulted. I am now ashamed of my Republican party. In fact, this is not the Republican party I once thought it to be. This bill has been very mean-spirited, villifying government employees, and disengenuous. It’s not about balancing the budget, it’s clearly about a power grab. And though, I should be all for my republican party getting more power, obviously they shouldn’t have it. The R’s have absolute power over all houses in WI, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I’m all for reforming unions, but the avg. state/govt worker is hard working, middle class, and serving the needs of the residents of the great state of WI. These attacks claiming the government employees are greedy, overpaid, and lazy are vicous and simply untrue. I’m a state employee, and my pay over the last four years is as follows. 4 years ago, 0% raise. 3 years ago, 0% raise. 2 years ago, 3% pay cut. 1 year ago, 3% pay cut… and from now on, I’ve agreed to a 10% pay cut. Meanwhile, the private sector comparable jobs have seen steady to small increases, and the cost of living has gone way up… To claim I’ve not done my share is ludicrous. To go after collective bargaining rights on the pretext it is required because our unions are unreasonable and unwilling to negotiate is also ludicrous. The facts tell otherwise.
Simply put, Walkers war on the workers in WI hurts many, many middle class families, and the primary reason for this war is to attack organizations that tend to spend their dollars supporting democrats…
Until the these WI Republicans are out of office, and the party stops it’s war on unions, I will not support the Republican party…
[...] – As mentioned here at Renaissance Post last week, the Wisconsin state troopers are ever more dubious about obeying what they see as Scott Walker’s illegal orders. [...]
[...] access (against another judge’s order) to the Capitol to those horrid unwashed teachers also used the state troopers to try to harass and intimidate Democratic lawmakers, only stopping when they were afraid they might “create sympathy” for the Democrats. For some [...]