7-2-14 civil service

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker's administration is looking at ways to streamline hiring for state jobs to help cope with a looming wave of retirements.  Department of Administration spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis says the agency is querying other state agencies to understand why the hiring process can sometimes take as long as four months and find ways to tighten the timeframe.

She insists the administration has no intention of weakening the process for awarding civil service jobs, which are supposed to be based on merit rather than political ties.  But union leaders are still stinging from Walker's law stripping most public workers of nearly all their union rights. They say they don't trust the administration and speeding up the hiring process could lead to more political patrons landing state work.