Chief clerk vows caucus overhaul
2:05 PM 5/24/01
Phil Brinkman State government reporter
Assembly Chief Clerk John Scocos said Wednesday he is stepping up a planned overhaul of legislative employment policies to get campaigning out of Assembly offices.
The move is in response to a Wisconsin State Journal series highlighting campaign activities of the four legislative caucuses. The taxpayer-supported agencies were created to provide staff support for legislators. But the newspaper found they also regularly engage in campaigning on state time or using state resources, in apparent violation of state law.
Scocos made his remarks after meeting with Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, who Scocos said encouraged him to go ahead with his investigation. Scocos also met with Assembly Minority Leader Spencer Black, D-Madison, who is conducting his own review of the role of the caucuses.
Jensen heads the Assembly Republican Caucus, while Black recently took over from Shirley Krug, D-Milwaukee, to head the Assembly Democratic Caucus. Any changes would have to be authorized by them.
Although he said it was premature to say what he would recommend, Scocos said his review will focus on:
Strengthening Assembly rules barring use of state phones, computers and other equipment for campaign activities.
Requiring staffers to better account for time taken for vacation and sick leave.
Evaluating the number, duties and job descriptions of legislative employees, both inside the two Assembly caucuses and in individual legislators' offices.
The State Journal's investigation found that caucus staffers routinely under-report on vacation requests the amount of time they take off from their jobs to campaign. Current policy allows that because the employees are not required to state which days they actually take off.
After Jensen appointed him chief clerk in January, "The first thing I noticed was (the lack of) accountability of vacation time, and I thought that was something that needed to be touched on immediately," Scocos said. Scocos said he also may recommend firing staffers who have engaged in "grossly wrong and unethical" acts, although no such recommendations have yet been made.
He said he hoped to have recommendations for the Assembly leadership by August.
Scocos' counterpart in the Senate, Don Schneider, said he had no immediate plans to suggest changes in that house.
"It appears what information you had was quite past tense," Schneider said of the State Journal investigation. "At this point in time, we'll continue to monitor what's out there."
Jensen has refused several opportunities to respond to the State Journal's findings, as have Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, who heads the Senate Democratic Caucus, and Senate Minority Leader Mary Panzer, R-West Bend, in charge of the Senate Republican Caucus.
Jonathan Becker, legal counsel for the state Ethics Board, said he and executive director Roth Judd planned to send copies of the State Journal series to board members. Becker said staff members haven't had time to formulate any recommendations on a possible enforcement action.
"We're going to proceed with all the speed we can," he said.

State Journal reporter Dee J. Hall contributed to this report.