Not only will Democrats return to the state Assembly in January with fewer members, but they will also have to make do with fewer staffers as well under a new policy implemented by Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo.

In a memo delivered to state Assemblymen Nov. 19, Gard announced each legislator would be allowed only one staff member during the 2005-06 session. Only representatives serving leadership roles, acting as committee chairs or presiding on the powerful Joint Finance Committee will be permitted to retain multiple staff positions.

In a chamber split 60-39 in favor of the GOP, such a rule will result in very few staff members for Democrats. Gard has the authority to appoint chairs of the 40-plus committees, meaning only the handful of Democrats with leadership roles or spots on the Finance Committee figure to have more than one staff member.

“It’s a matter of equity — all staff reductions are being imposed on Democrats,” Rep. Dave Travis, D-Waunakee, said of the new rule. “It’s a purely partisan move.”

All non-freshman minority Democrats were previously allowed 1.5 staffers per office, a regulation established in the 1980s when Democratic Speaker Tom Loftus granted the minority Republicans an extra half-staff position.

Travis, an Assemblyman since 1978, said his office would be sluggish at answering e-mails and phone calls under the new rules.

“[Gard] is diminishing the effectiveness of Democratic [legislators],” Travis said. “Where’s the pain on the Republican side?”

Travis proposed a more representational cut to Assembly staff, pointing out the numerous workers in Gard’s office.

One of those Gard staffers, spokesman Steve Bass, says the staff reduction is a cost-saving move applied equally to both parties. The policy change “applies across the board,” Baas notes, allowing legislators with higher workloads to hire more staffers, instead of using a seniority-based system.

The Speaker estimates $660,000 in savings from the policy change.

Gard also claims $350,000 in savings this year from a hiring freeze imposed in the Assembly since April. He made an exception to the freeze recently, however, for Republican Assemblyman-elect Brett Davis, hired last week as an aide to the man he will replace in January, retiring Rep. Mike Powers, R-Albany. Davis did not have another income source until his inauguration in January.

Democrats are crying foul over the move, saying it undermines Gard’s stated goal of fiscal responsibility.

“I think it’s pretty outrageous that at the same time he’s cutting Democratic staff he’s giving a job to a newly elected representative just to cushion him for a couple months,” Travis said.

Baas said Powers needed the help so he could care for his ailing mother, who was diagnosed with cancer. Before Davis’ hiring, Powers had gone without a single staff member in his office.

Citing Powers as an example, Baas said the new policy change would not diminish the effectiveness of lesser-staffed lawmakers.

“There’s a lot of Republicans with one staff member right now,” Baas said. “Powers had no staff in his office. There’s a dozen who only have one staffer and they’re outstanding legislators.”