High court wrong to fire employee over politics

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. This week, the newly-progressive leaning Wisconsin Supreme Court took its first action, by unceremoniously firing the Director of State Courts. The action came just hours after the swearing in of the newest member of the Supreme Court, Janet Protasiewicz, giving the body a liberal majority for the first time in 15 years. No reason was given for the firing of Randy Koschnick, who by all accounts was a valued and productive employee of the Supreme Court. He was honored by the State Bar for keeping the Wisconsin court system running through the pandemic. He has 18 years of judicial service and has been Director of State Courts since 2017. So why fire him? And why do it as the first order of the new court’s business? Apparently it has to do with politics. Back in 2008, before becoming Director of State Courts, he ran for a seat on the Supreme Court, challenging liberal justice Shirley Abrahamson. If he is doing his job well, and is well liked, and if they can’t come up with a reason for firing him, then he should keep his job. Instead, it appears it was a political purging. Our high court should do better, and make decisions based on performance, not on politics.