Walker Still Treats Public Safety as a Photo Op

Today the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe DeCecco called out Scott Walker for his hypocrisy on public safety issues.  While Walker is busy posing for pictures during National Victim Rights Week, his actual policies paint an entirely different picture.   The Sheboygan DA accused Walker of merely posturing on the topic. He specifically referenced the funds that the state cut for the victim/witness advocate programs around the state.

“This critical program, mandated by state statute to be provided by county government, and which provides safety, security and services to victims and witnesses of crimes, has had its state reimbursement fund cut by some $400,000, leaving counties holding the bag without the means to obtain the necessary funds to cover that gap,” DeCecco stated, referring to the ACT 10 prohibition against any county’s raising property taxes. “Once again,” DeCecco said, “county budgets providing state-mandated essential services are nothing but pawns in an Administration’s game of hypocrisy.”

This is certainly not the only public safety issue that Walker has undermined while he has been governor.  Here are just a few other curious actions that don't seem to comport with his PR driven public face on the subject:

• Drastic cuts to shared revenue that have negatively impacted local communities public safety efforts.  For example last year Beloit braced for the cuts and faced a planned reduction of 20.5 public safety positions. Likewise the City of Manitowoc prepared for 8% cuts in both police and the fire departments. The police and fire chiefs were directed to cut nearly a combined $1 million. 
• A year ago almost to the day Walker threatened to overstep his boundaries to layoff assistant district attorneys from all over the state.  At the eleventh hour he relented from his bullying tactics that have long been his hallmark.
• Literally just before Christmas last year Walker announced a new round of cuts including $2.46 million to the Department of Justice and $9.46 million to the Department of Corrections. 

None of this is a surprise to anyone that was paying attention to Walker's horrible record in Milwaukee County.  In fact I posted a blog in 2010 highlighting only some of those public safety blunders.  The title of that blog was "Public Safety as a Photo Op" and it is very clear that Walker is still treating things that way as a dysfunctional governor.