UNDATED (WSAU-Wheeler News) State troopers who provide security for Governor Scott Walker have lost a four-dollar-an-hour raise given in February.
The team has also been cut from nine members to five, after last week’s federal order to pay overtime to the unit as far back as May of 2013. Officials have not determined how much the troopers are owed, but media reports say it could be more than a million dollars. The 12-percent raises came as the Republican Walker was stepping up his travel, in preparation for his presidential bid.
The unit gives 24/7 protection to Walker and his family, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, and visiting dignitaries.
The D-O-T’s Peg Schmitt would not say if the officials would get less protection, but the lieutenant governor’s office says nothing will change for Kleefisch. The raises gave most of the security detail $36-an hour, but they had lost the limited overtime opportunities they were given in the past. Last year, the nine staffers worked 8,200hours without pay.
Schmitt says the four troopers being dropped from the detail will do other work in the State Patrol’s regional offices.
