The brain drain in Milwaukee County continues. This time the cause can be traced directly back to, who else, Walker.
The medical examiner's office has lost 50% of its qualified forensic pathologists, and there is a strong concern that the others will also leave.
To be fair, Dr. Jeffrey Jentzen retired after 22 years, so I won't blame Walker for his loss. However, the next in line, Dr. Russell Alexander turned down a $75,000 a year raise to move to Maryland.
The medical examiner's office and the D.A.'s office are both warning Walker that there is a strong danger of there being a backlog of autopsies, which would hamper law enforcement and prosecution of murderers. Walker is now forced to increase the salaries for pathologists, which he slashed in 2004, by $25,000 each, and replace a position for a forensic investigator, just one of the one's he cut out in previous years.
There is no word on how Walker plans to pay for all of this. Perhaps he will tap the $7 million dollar surplus that the County Board gave Milwaukee.
There have been no return calls from Dr. Quincy. Walker is standing by the phone, just in case.
No comments:
Post a Comment