UNDATED (WSAU-Wheeler News) Nine members of Governor Scott Walker’s security team have been paid $577,000 for overtime that the U-S Labor Department said was improperly withheld. The overtime covered a two-year period ending last May, when the Republican Walker was traveling heavily to get ready for a presidential bid that lasted only 71 days later in the year.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says State Patrol Sergeant Eric Dante received the biggest payment, of about $93,000. Wisconsin governors normally get 24-hour protection no matter where they go — and the security team occasionally accompaines the governor’s family members, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefish, and visiting dignitaries.
The overtime limits that the federal government rejected were first adopted in 2006 by former Democratic Governor Jim Doyle.