A group of Republican legislators Wednesday requested the Joint Finance Committee deny Madison-area law enforcement the reimbursement they requested for excess time working at the State Capitol during the spring protests.
In the letter, 13 lawmakers argued the security costs during what they called the Capitol ""siege"" were greater because Madison-area officials, like former Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney, encouraged the protesters' behavior in order to ""achieve a partisan political outcome.""
""These expenses could have been reduced or even eliminated if the Madison Police Department and the Dane County Sheriff's Department hadn't been limited in their response by the local officials,"" they said in the letter.
In addition, the lawmakers said the events at the Capitol already fall under the jurisdiction of city and county forces.
Cieslewicz said Wednesday the state was responsible for patrolling inside the Capitol building, the county was in charge of the areas outside of the building, and the city was responsible for the outer ring and other downtown areas.
As for protesters, Cieslewicz said he opposed removing them from the Capitol unless there was some public safety issues.
""Going in and removing protesters is provocative activity that would serve no benefit,"" Cieslewicz said.
The City of Madison, which has requested $735,624 in reimbursement, is one of five law enforcement divisions still under review.
The JFC tentatively approved Madison's reimbursement application but will further review it because Madison is the most complex of the law enforcement divisions seeking reimbursement.
State Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, urged the other JFC members to distinguish between law enforcement officers on duty on the Capitol side of the square and the Madison-area law enforcement who were instructed to stay on the perimeter of the square.
State Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, criticized the JFC for not accepting the ""credibility"" of Madison-area law enforcement and said the body should ""thank them for their dedication and professionalism, not question whether or not they sacrificed their duty because of politics.""
