TOUGH DECISIONS

According to my local fishwrap, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has decided that these tough economic times require bold action. The front page article caught my attention with the headline: “DNR DISCONTINUING LOCAL COUNTER SERVICE.” My first thought was-It’s about time! But, my naiveté belies my years. My reaction should have been-It sounds too good to be true. Well, of course, it is. It turns out that while the DNR is in fact discontinuing counter service, the jobs of the 51 state employees who provided that service are not being cut. No, they will keep their jobs with the DNR but will be “serving the public” in some, as yet undetermined, “different capacity.” The article states, in part:

Although the service centers will remain open as a base of operations
for local field staff, biologists and wardens, starting next spring people
will have to look elsewhere to obtain hunting licenses and information.
Eliminating counter service is expected to save the state $3.2 million
over the course of the next biennium.

I can see how this will inconvenience taxpayers but I don’t understand how it will save them any money. This question did not occur to the reporter who wrote the article so I am left only to contemplate the statements made by a DNR spokesman: “We are really facing an economic struggle. The state government had to make some tough decisions [because] decisions aren’t ever easy when you are facing a deficit.” Oh, really? How tough can it be when your solution is to cut customer service while maintaining a robust payroll? The truth is that the DNR and government in general have only one crucial decision to make. They have to decide where that imaginary and dangerously nebulous line in the sand is. They know they can’t cross it. It’s the one where the taxpayers finally say, “FUCK YOU! We’re not going to take this shit anymore!”

The line has been moving further and further…to the left, of course. According to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (gotta love these government bureaucracies), the state lost over 72,000 private- sector jobs last year. During this same time period, all those tough decisions being made in Madison have resulted in 900 new government jobs!

The DNR spokesman went on to say that “We will do what we can to avoid layoffs…” And what might that be? Increase production? No, they don’t produce anything. Increase customer service? Obviously not. Who knows?
Apparently the only thing we know for sure is that the consequences of a less than fully staffed DNR are too dire to contemplate. An immediate spike in global temperatures? Bands of renegade hunters decimating entire species of wild game? Maybe the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District would start dumping millions of gallons of untreated wastewater into Lake Michigan every time it rains! Oh, that’s right, they’re doing that now. Gosh, maybe the DNR does need to hire more people. After all, they’ve got 72,000 additional people to choose from this year.