Part-time worker Gov. Walker wants to change state workers' hiring rules

Why should we take advice on workers' changes from a governor who spent a fraction of his time working?

What would happen to you if you only showed up to work one day in the course of two weeks or so?

You’d probably get fired, long before that month even ended. But it’s perfectly acceptable for Scott Walker, who spent only one day of July in Wisconsin after announcing his presidential bid, to work such short hours.

From NBC 15:

Walker's official calendar for July released to The Associated Press under the state's open records law shows Walker spent one day in July in Wisconsin on official business after launching his presidential run July 13.

That was to attend a Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation board meeting and to sign a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

The governor earns $144,423 per year. But for those 17 days campaigning and one day of actual work as governor, Walker earned more than $7,221.

If you or I work one day out of 18, we’d get canned. But now, Walker thinks he’s entitled to change the way all state workers’ jobs are hired, fired, or promoted.

Which would mean a return to politics from more than 100 years ago in Wisconsin: of resume-based hiring that promotes political prospects more so than quality workers.

When the civil service law was passed in 1905, Gov. Robert M. LaFollette declared that “the best shall serve the state.” If he’s successful in repealing the law, Walker may tweak that slogan to “the most connected shall serve the state.”

Wisconsin should reject Walker’s changes. We don’t need someone who spent less than one day working in the state dictating who deserves to work in government jobs. And we don’t want a governor who’s happy to promote friends and family of donors to higher positions of power to change the rules to fit his ambitions.

We rejected those days long ago. Wisconsin should tell Gov. Walker to keep those days in the past.