MADISON (WSAU) Wisconsin Senate Democrat Jon Erpenbach is going to bat for a state shipping-and-mailroom employee who was fired after he sent out an e-mail about the voter I-D law. An official in the Department of Safety-and-Professional Services said 38-year-old Chris Larsen was let go yesterday due to a series of work rule violations, including what he called “multiple misuses of e-mail.” But Erpenbach said “anyone with a pulse” would believe Larson was fired because of the e-mail he sent co-workers about the voter I-D law. It objected to the D-O-T’s policy to give out free photo I-D’s at motor vehicle officers only to those who ask – and to not offer them upfront.

Larsen told his department employees to ask for the I-D’s if they need them – and tell everyone they know to do the same. Because Larsen is a limited-term employee, Erpenbach says he does not have the same protections as other state workers. So the senator said he arranged a meeting between him, Larsen, and Larsen’s boss to discuss the matter. No date was set for that meeting.

Larsen had worked for the safety agency since last December.