DAS: BUDGET CUTS COULD CRIPPLE ABILITY TO PROSECUTE CASES

Gov. Jim Doyle's proposed cuts to close the state's budget deficit are
leaving district attorneys worried about possible layoffs.

Doyle's plan also may force the public defender's office and Justice
Department to slash jobs to deal with smaller budgets.

To fix the deficit in the current two-year budget, Doyle signed a budget
repair bill Feb. 27 that requires state agencies to trim $170 million from
the budget by June, including $363,200 for district attorneys, $730,900 for
public defenders and about $2 million for the Justice Department.

Barron County District Attorney Jim Babler said his office had applied for
an additional assistant district attorney and cannot afford to lose either
of its two full-time assistants.

"It is certainly discouraging to hear of possible cuts," Babler said today.
"In Barron County, our felonies were up 40 percent last year, and our
misdemeanors were up 22 percent. We're just treading water."

Babler said Barron County has the second-highest total of methamphetamine
cases in the state.

"There are only so many cases we can handle adequately," Babler said. "It
could be crippling."

Rusk County District Attorney Kathleen Pakes has only a half-time assistant
in her office.

"It's harder for the smaller counties to absorb the cuts," Pakes said. "To
eliminate the part-time prosecutor, it makes it really hard to be the only
prosecutor in the county."

Pakes said she fears cases will not receive the attention they deserve if
cuts are made.

"There will be some cases I just won't be able to prosecute," she said.

District attorneys across the state had a similar reaction.

"I am going to have to lay off prosecutors for the first time in my
career," said Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher, who has been
district attorney since 1988. "Attorneys who prosecute drunken driving,
domestic violence and robbery. Milwaukee will have to do the same, as will
every other county in the state."

County prosecutors would need to either lay off every assistant district
attorney for three to four days, or lay off more than 20 prosecutors for
three months to save the $363,200 in the budget.

"Nobody's going to be happy," said union leader John Burr of the
Association of State Prosecutors. "There are senior people already
screaming, 'Lay off the younger people.' It's an ugly situation."

In Doyle's proposed budget through mid-2005, district attorneys' offices
statewide would lose 15 positions and $1.8 million, the state public
defender's office would lose 16 jobs and $7 million, and the state
Department of Justice would lose 40 positions and $10 million.

The budget proposal still needs legislative approval.

Doyle spokesman Dan Leistikow said the governor had to make difficult
choices to close Wisconsin's $3.2 billion deficit.

"The governor is a former attorney general and district attorney who
recognizes and appreciates the important work that prosecutors and public
defenders do," Leistikow said. "But the governor believes that every part
of government is going to have to make some sacrifices. This is a difficult
time for everyone."

But Bucher said the cuts hurt prosecutors more, because unlike other state
agencies, they cannot trim equipment, supplies or training budgets. The
state pays prosecutors' salaries, while counties fund their non-salary costs.

"We have one line item to cut: people," Bucher said.