From: "Lasee, Frank" To: Subject: Lasee's Notes, 2-7-02 Date: Thursday, February 07, 2002 8:19 AM Lasee's Notes February 7, 2002 Who should have responsibility for the government's actions - an obscure group of appointees, or the legislators who are directly elected by the people? That's the issue behind a bill that an Assembly committee will vote on a little later this morning, no matter how the bill's opponents try to spin. The bill is Assembly Bill 709, taking authority to set administrative salaries at the University of Wisconsin away from the UW Board of Regents, and giving it back to the Legislature - putting things back as they were eight months ago. The bill was drafted in response to enormous pay raises the Board of Regents gave to several top UW administrators last year. Double-digit raises, up to 50%, for top administrators who already made six-figure salaries. This, in a year when many workers are worried about getting laid off, and those who aren't might be looking forward to a raise of one percent, if not a pay cut. However, the salaries aren't the issue here. It's what you get when elected officials shirk their responsibilities. The raises were controversial. Many elected officials don't like controversy. To avoid it, we create study committees, task forces, commissions. In the past, we've done this by passing the Legislature's authority to others - in this case, the UW Board of Regents. When the Legislature gave the Board of Regents authority to set administrative pay in the UW system, we insulated ourselves from any decisions they might make. The same goes for tuition increases - we gave that authority away three years ago. From that point on, whatever decisions the Board made weren't the Legislature's decisions. Now the Board has made a controversial decision. We in the Legislature can throw our hands in the air, write angry press releases, and agree wholeheartedly that the Board has made an absolutely unforgivable mistake Then we'll say the Board did it, not us. And the Board is appointed by the Governor. There are other examples of this in state government. The Legislature gave away our responsibility on Indian gaming compacts just as we did with tuition and salaries at UW. In other states, the legislatures must vote on gaming compacts. In Wisconsin, the Governor's office takes care of them - it's no longer the Legislature's responsibility. Opponents of AB 709 are spinning, trying to make the bill a referendum on the need for higher salaries at UW, so our university system can remain a first-class system, as its been for decades with the Legislature setting salaries. The bill doesn't address the salaries themselves, though - it only addresses the authority to set them. If salaries are too low, then convince the Legislature that they're too low. We can make the decision to raise them, or not to raise them, and be accountable to the voters for our decision. If enough voters don't like our decisions, we lose our jobs. That's as it should be - an elected official is elected because he or she represents the views of our constituents. If an appointed board or agency director makes a controversial decision, we can simply say that it wasn't our fault. We're with you, but we can't do anything about it. The buck doesn't stop here, because the buck never got here. Your Legislature in action. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------