SHARE

By of the

Madison - The costs of protecting the state's top two leaders have more than doubled since Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch won election - a product of the state's increasingly polarized politics and the changing circumstances of the state's first family.

A top official in the Wisconsin State Patrol and a spokesman for Walker said the increased costs were mostly because of death threats against the Republican governor and lieutenant governor and their families. But Walker's office also acknowledged that other factors like the increased security for Walker's two homes and younger family played a role.

The costs of the governor's security detail totaled $611,400 over the 10 months from Walker's election in November 2010 to the end of August of this year, according to documents released to the Journal Sentinel under the state's open records law. That was more than twice as much as the $259,900 that it cost to protect then Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle over the comparable 10-month period from November 2009 to August 2010.

David Erwin, a captain in the State Patrol and the head of the unit that protects the governor, said the threats against Walker have reached a new level. State officials declined to discuss those threats or the governor's security in any detail because they said it might put him at risk.

"Any threats targeting the governor, his family and the lieutenant governor are not comparable to past administrations. Because of the increased threat level, for the first time we need to provide security at this level for the (lieutenant governor) and the governor's family," said a statement by Erwin, who also led the unit when Doyle was governor.

Neither the National Governors Association nor the National Governors Security Association keep statistics on the costs of protecting governors around the country.

Since February, when Walker introduced his legislation repealing most collective bargaining for public employees, emotions in the state have run high. Public officials of both parties have been threatened.

Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said in a statement that the governor left security decisions to law enforcement.

"Governor Walker's security detail started out the same as Doyle's, but as the threat level increased so did the need to provide additional safety measures," Werwie said in a statement.

For instance, Patrick J. Knauf of Eau Claire was charged in April with making a bomb threat at a place where Walker made a public appearance, according to the Chippewa Herald. Knauf pleaded no contest to a felony bomb scare charge and a misdemeanor obstructing an officer charge and is serving out a deferred prosecution agreement on the felony.

In March, 26-year-old Katherine R. Windels of Cross Plains was charged in Dane County Circuit Court with two felony counts and two misdemeanor counts accusing her of emailing graphic death threats to state GOP lawmakers during the height of the battle over Walker's proposal. Windels, whose case is scheduled to go to trial in January, also is accused of threatening Walker.

On Monday, Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs issued a statement saying that his officers were investigating a Facebook posting by a felon that referred to killing Walker instead of recalling him as some opponents plan to do.

The state has also paid nearly $8.2 million for increased law enforcement at the Capitol this year in the midst of massive demonstrations over the union legislation, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Other factors also are adding to the costs for protecting the governor. Walker has two teenage sons still living at home. When Doyle took office in 2003, his two sons were grown, didn't live with him and didn't routinely need security.

Also, Walker splits his time between the governor's mansion in Maple Bluff and his home in Wauwatosa, where his sons still attend school. Doyle sold his Madison home and moved to the governor's mansion.

The state records show there were $516,200 in regular salary costs and $95,200 in overtime for protecting Walker, Kleefisch and family members from November 2010 to August 2011. That works out to about 10 full-time officers, according to figures in the records.

That compares to about $245,300 in regular salary and $14,600 in overtime during the Doyle era from November 2009 to August 2010. One factor in the higher costs was the transition period in November and December of last year, when both Doyle and Walker needed protection, Werwie said.

The number of miles driven by state troopers involved in protecting Walker, Kleefisch and their families also increased to 173,200, up from 26,400 under Doyle - a figure that didn't include some driving done for former Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton. Both sets of mileage figures were for vehicles other than the official cars used by the governors.

Kleefisch is afforded a higher level of security than her predecessor because of threats against her, said Jeanne Tarantino, her chief of staff. Law enforcement routinely drives Kleefisch between her Oconomowoc home and her Madison office, Tarantino said.

Threats weren't unheard of for past governors and lieutenant governors.

Doyle faced a number of threats while he was governor at times, such as when he vetoed concealed weapons legislation, according to two former officials close to Doyle. One said Doyle received about half a dozen threats a year.

Doyle drew criticism for taking taxpayer-funded security with him to a United Nations climate change conference in December of last year shortly before he left office.

Lawton, who served as lieutenant governor for the eight years before Kleefisch, said Tuesday that a Capitol police officer drove her to events outside of Madison during her second term. Beyond that, she was not provided security, she said.

Lawton said she recalled two threats that she considered serious, and there may have been others.