If citizens want to know how much front-line public employees are paid, it 's not hard to find out. Pay ranges are public record.

If a newspaper wants to find out if law enforcement officers are among those who no longer are allowed to drive state cars, a reporter can request and find out the job classifications of those covered by the prohibition.

But if the newspaper wants to know exactly what a particular state correctional officer is paid, or exactly who is being prohibited from driving, that 's when the line is crossed between legitimate public knowledge and the protection of personal privacy.

It 's why we fought for and won contract provisions that protect the right to privacy of our members. And it is why we continue to fight to protect the privacy of our members in the courts.

Our union believes the public has a right to know about the inner workings of its government. We constantly encourage the media to cover the hard work public employees do at a time when each is being asked to consistently do more with less.

But correctional facilities that continue to operate safely despite crowding do not make splashy newspaper copy. Of course, if a reporter were assigned to walk a day in the shoes of a correctional officer, there would be stories to tell.

If newspapers invested more time digging into the powder-keg conditions inside correctional facilities, a more enlightened public might demand remedies.

If reporters researched how staffing levels of Department of Natural Resources wardens in the field affect the state 's ability to fight chronic wasting disease or other threats to wildlife and human health, they just might find a story there.

Or if newspapers looked into what happens to severely disabled people when they are taken from safe homes in state facilities and disappear into loosely regulated community settings, there might be a Pulitzer lurking out there.

But this kind of public-spirited reporting appears to have lost favor. Instead, it 's been replaced by all that is petty and personal. It 's easier to publish lists of public employee names and salaries than it is to actually look at the work being done by those employees.

Certainly we all should know what the top leaders are being paid. There 's a public policy justification to know that Barry Alvarez makes more than Jim Doyle. But what public policy goal is met by publishing what Betty down the street makes as a nursing assistant at Wisconsin Central Center?

Again, it is easy to find out the pay range for any specific state job. It is easy to look at the entire budget of a place like Central Center. It is possible to look at staffing levels and trends.

If a public employee is charged with a crime, his or her name is made public. Everything needed to have a fully informed discussion of public policy is readily available.

What isn 't there are private details of front-line, non-policy-making employees.

Invading their privacy adds nothing to a legitimate discussion of public policy. All it does is make public what should be private.

Beil is executive director of the Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24.