RACINE COUNTY -- The state should cut funding to the Wisconsin State Patrol to help offset its multi-billion dollar budget deficit, a group of local politicians said this week, joining faint echoes of opposition to the only statewide law enforcement agency.

(Above) Reform Party candidate for governor Alan Eisenberg (far right) appeared on Commentary on June 17, 2002 to talk about his candidacy. On the program, Eisenberg advocated eliminating the Wisconsin State Patrol, an idea that is now getting a hearing in Madison though is opposed by governor-elect Doyle

"There are no sacred cows," Racine County Executive Jean Jacobson said. "We have to look at everything for ways to save money."

Jacobson called for reductions to the State Patrol's $49.1 million budget during a public hearing on the state budget hosted by Governor-elect Jim Doyle in Racine last week. Similar calls were made at budget hearings this month in Wausau and Appleton, and state politicians flirted with the idea last spring.

Opponents of the agency, founded in 1939 to enforce transportation regulations, argue the State Patrol duplicates local law enforcement efforts. While no one is advocating to eliminate the agency, some are calling for drastic cuts to the number of state troopers who patrol local highways.

State Rep. Bonnie Ladwig, R-Mount Pleasant, said the state could conceivably eliminate 389 troopers and save an estimated $26.4 million per year. Additional cuts to staff and training centers could bring savings up to $35 million, said Ladwig, who raised the issue within the Republican Caucus last year.

"Yeah, it (the State Patrol) is nice to have," she said. "But when you're in a tight budget, you can't have just nice, you have to have necessity. Is this necessity?"

Supporters of the State Patrol dismissed talks of deep cuts, calling the idea "stupid" and "ridiculous."

"If Racine County doesn't want the troopers there, tell them to send them north," said Washburn County Sheriff Terry Dryden, who heavily relies on the State Patrol for backup. "We'll take them."

Most northern counties in Wisconsin work closely with the State Patrol to supplement their small departments, Dryden said. In Washburn County, which is located in the state's northwest corner, state troopers have keys to the sheriff's department office and are free to come and go throughout the day.

Dryden described a proposal to eliminate the State Patrol as "the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"I know if I lost the troopers in this county, I do not have the manpower or resources to patrol traffic like the state patrol does," he said.

Other supporters added it wasn't "practical" to cut the State Patrol's budget at a time when more statewide enforcement is needed. A federal report released this week showed drunken driving fatalities increased in Wisconsin between 1999 and 2001 for the first time in nearly two decades, while drunken driving arrests and speeding citations are on the rise.

The State Patrol is also the only agency in the state trained to weigh and inspect trucks driving through Wisconsin, and it operates the only statewide communication network.

"People who support cutting the agency simply don't know the extent of the involvement of the State Patrol in a number of programs," said Col. Benjamin Mendez, assistant superintendent of the State Patrol. "There are certain pockets of people who may say things, but there are many people in southeastern Wisconsin who know it is not practical to disband the state patrol. They're just doing this to bring attention to the budget needs of their organization."

There appears to be little political will for cutting the State Patrol's budget, and the idea has one significant opponent -- Doyle.

"That's not an idea that Governor Jim Doyle believes should be considered," said Thad Nation, a spokesman for Doyle. "The State Patrol plays an important role in protecting the state's highway's and interstates, and he (Doyle) believes that role is necessary."

Regardless, the issue has some political life.

The idea gained popularity during the fall election when Alan Eisenberg made cutting the state patrol a central issue to his third-party bid for governor.

While Eisenberg received a fraction of the vote, his campaign received statewide media attention. He was the only candidate to discuss eliminating the state agency.

During an interview this week, Eisenberg's attacked the need for law enforcement focused primarily on traffic.

"They are a waste of money, they are a zero," he said of the State Patrol. "There isn't one guy who is one-tenth as good as one of McReynolds' deputies. Duplication of services? Oh yeah."

Statewide, county executives in Marathon and Outagamie counties asked Doyle to consider consolidating the State Patrol with sheriff's departments, and last spring, Senate Democrats proposed eliminating the agency's seven dispatch centers to save an estimated $1.4 million per year. The idea was rescinded a day after it was proposed under heavy bi-partisan criticism.

Both McReynolds and Jacobson said the state should at least study the idea of consolidating dispatch services with county systems, and Ladwig expects Assembly Republicans to at least discuss the proposal.

State Senator-elect Cathy Stepp, R-Yorkville, said cuts to the State Patrol should be approached with caution. "We have to have a careful understanding, so in the event of a serious statewide emergency we have a cohesive force to respond," she said. "We don't want to be fragmented."

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