Knowing that Senator Sprouse is considering refiling his lawsuit against the Governor and the legislature with the Supreme Court, the Democrats threatened to fire the employees of Senator Vic Sprouse if we participate in the lawsuit’s preparation.

I am surprised that the Democrats would stoop so low as to intimidate us. The Republicans should have full use of their staff without interference from the majority party and the staff has the right to work without harassment.

In a memo published September 15th and sent to every Senator and Senate employee, the Clerk declared that “Senate staff on Senate time shall not participate in litigation matters involving the State Senate without the written approval of the Clerk. A Senate full time or per diem attorney or other Senate staff who violates this policy is subject to immediate dismissal.” (emphasis theirs)

The Clerk assumes broad responsibility over the actions of the staff of the Minority Party and says the Minority Counsel must answer to the Majority counsel: “…he is in charge of all litigation matters involving the State Senate. No lawsuits are to be filed, defended, or otherwise litigated without his written approval. Any such approved lawsuits are to be conducted at the direction of the General Counsel.”

In a memo dated September 16th to the Senate Clerk, Senator Sprouse retorted, “requiring the majority’s permission before any member of the minority staff participates in certain activities that the majority party would politically disapprove of is laughable. Let us not forget we dwell in the realm of politics; no offense to the President’s Counsel, but a decision to sue would hardly be based on the facts of the situation and would be mired solely in partisan politics.

“Further, it is not the Clerk’s concern what the minority staff does under the direction of the minority Senators. While the Senate staffers of the minority party report to the Senate Clerk from an administrative standpoint (payroll, HR, etc.), their direction and functional responsibility is to the Senate minority party; even if that means their work in assisting the minority party may be politically detrimental to the majority party (i.e., the drafting of a food tax elimination amendment).

“As I have suggested in the past, a better way to approach this is for the minority party to have their own budget controlled by the minority that is agreed to by the Democratic and Republican leaders. All minority employees would be paid out of that budget. Obviously these employees would share the payroll and other services of the Senate.”