MADISON - Politics improperly influenced
the decision to hire a top state lawyer after former Gov. Tony Earl
helped a friend's nephew get the job, a hearing examiner has
concluded.
The tainted hiring cost taxpayers
$346,000 in recent legal settlements paid to two qualified internal
candidates passed over for the job as the state's top unemployment
insurance lawyer, according to documents obtained by The Associated
Press under the state open records law.
The Department of Workforce
Development eventually hired Daniel LaRocque, a lawyer with no
experience in unemployment insurance or state government but close
ties to Democratic politics.
In the process, DWD officials broke
numerous hiring policies and state laws, Wisconsin Employment
Relations Commission hearing examiner Lauri Millot concluded in a
proposed decision last year.
The 2005 hiring for the civil service
position was supposed to be insulated from politics and based on
merit. But LaRocque asked Earl, a one-term governor who lost
re-election to Tommy Thompson in 1986, to intervene on his behalf,
according to testimony in the case.
Earl called Hal Bergan, DWD's
unemployment insurance administrator and Earl's former policy
director, to recommend LaRocque for the job. Bergan was on a
four-member interview panel and had the final say on who to hire.
Earl called LaRocque "a good
guy" and said he was calling at his request, Bergan testified.
He said the call "had basically no influence" and LaRocque
was hired because of his management experience. LaRocque, who has
been in the job for three years, made the same argument Thursday.
Millot concluded otherwise.
Bergan's decision to hire LaRocque
"was an abuse of discretion" and based on his political
connections, she wrote. He separately told each member of the
interview panel about his talk with Earl and took steps to make sure
LaRocque was hired, she found.
LaRocque's uncle is Daniel LaRocque,
a judge who is old friends with Earl and acquaintances with Bergan.
The judge's wife, Ruth, is a Democrat who worked under Earl.
Those passed over include Jorge
Fuentes, a 19-year department veteran initially favored by two
members of the hiring panel. Millot concluded Fuentes, a Cuba
native, would have gotten the job if it was based on merit.
After Millot released her decision,
the state in January paid Fuentes $300,000 to settle claims that
politics improperly influenced the hiring and the department
violated its affirmative action plan. The deal also gave him a raise
of $2.37 per hour retroactive to 2005 — about $14,000 in back pay.
In February, the state paid $24,000
to settle similar claims with Robert Junceau, a DWD administrative
law judge with 33 years in state government. He received a
retroactive raise of $1.25 per hour, or nearly $8,000 in back pay.
The department did not admit
wrongdoing under the settlements. But Millot described numerous
violations of department policy and state law in her decision. The
complaints were settled before the commission could adopt the
decision and make it final.
Millot found:
— Bergan broke department policy
when he did not perform reference checks on LaRocque. Other
panelists wanted to find out why he was let go from CUNA Mutual
Group in 2002 and was leaving his current job at a law firm.
Bergan promised to investigate but
the only "check" he made was a phone call to friend Lon
Sprecher, a CUNA employee who also worked under Earl and is a
Democratic Party donor. He was not LaRocque's supervisor.
Bergan testified he was unaware of a
policy requiring at least two reference checks. "Do not
recommend a hire if you have not gone through this process,"
the policy says.
— Bergan and others violated the
department's affirmative action plan and state law by not including
minorities on the interview panel. The plan required at least
two-thirds of the panelists to come from minority groups.
But the department illegally
"waived" that requirement after making little effort to
find minorities to serve, Millot found. It had no authority for such
a waiver.
— Bergan asked questions during
interviews that had little to do with the job's duties.
Millot said they were slanted to help
LaRocque and hurt the others' chances. One of the questions was:
"Describe how you would deal with your lack of detailed
knowledge of the unemployment insurance program." Fuentes had
extensive knowledge of it; LaRocque didn't.
Greg Frigo, who was leaving the
position after 20 years, testified that knowledge of unemployment
insurance law was absolutely critical for the job.
The position involves interpreting
state and federal laws for the public and lawmakers; big money can
be at stake for businesses and individuals.
LaRocque testified that he had
volunteered for Earl's campaigns and knew him from social events
through his uncle. He knew of Earl's connection with Bergan and
asked him to make the call after he applied for the job, he said.
Still, he insisted Thursday that
politics had no role in his getting the $107,600 per year job.
"The process was very thorough
and carefully considered the merits of the candidates," he
said.
