Training program orients legislative staff

For many years, new state Assembly staff had almost no training to prepare them for their work with the state’s lawmakers.

A collaborative effort between the Certified Public Manager program and the Assembly Speaker’s Office has changed that by providing a two-week training session, covering a range of public management skills as well as several discussions on governmental processes and policies.

In kicking off the program, Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, says the program fills a gap in what was an absence of training for legislative staff. The speaker’s office funds the training.

The 30 legislative staff members who took part in the first round of the program were enthusiastic about its value. The Leadership Development Certificate they received can be applied to the requirements for the Certified Public Manager designation.

The program is led by associate professor Susan Paddock, director of the Certified Public Management Program in the Division of Continuing Studies. A broad group of UW–Madison faculty participated in the training, including John Witte, Dennis Dresang and Ken Mayer from the La Follette Institute, and Roger Williams from the Professional Development and Applied Studies Department.

Mordecai Lee and Stephen Percy, UW-Milwaukee, and Robert Lang, director of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, also joined in teaching as did directors and representatives of nine other state agencies.

Policy discussions were also a cooperative effort. Representatives of Alliant Utilities, the Environmental Decade, the Public Service Commission and the Wisconsin Community Action Program explored policy questions relating to utilities deregulation. Representatives of the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities, Wisconsin Towns Association, Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, and the county executive offices of Dane and Waukesha counties looked at relationships between state and local officials. The program is likely to be repeated for another group of Assembly staff.