Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council
A representative government is dependent on an informed electorate
Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council (www.wisfoic.org), a nonprofit group dedicated to open government.
On July 2, the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee unleashed a shocking assault on the state’s long and proud tradition of open government. It happened at night, on the eve of a holiday weekend, just a few hours after the proposal was first unveiled. No one has taken credit for it. Committee co-chair Sen. Alberta Darling, […]
Continue ReadingA provision snuck into the state budget bill by the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee would deal a significant blow to open government in Wisconsin. The provision, part of an omnibus motion of changes affecting the University of Wisconsin System, would exempt universities from the rule in place for all other state agencies regarding the naming […]
Continue ReadingThe office of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has crafted a new interpretation of the state’s open records law, claiming it can exempt records used in developing a final decision from disclosure. In this case, “new” is not “improved.” Earlier this year, records requesters asked the office for its communications with the Department of Administration, after […]
Continue ReadingIn a recent column, state Attorney General Brad Schimel called for updating the state’s open government laws to meet the challenges of the digital age. He’s exactly right. The laws were enacted long before the Internet — let alone Facebook and Twitter — came into being. They must be updated and strengthened to make sure […]
Continue ReadingWisconsin’s new attorney general, Brad Schimel, contended in a recent column that the state’s open government laws “are outdated and do not adequately address today’s technological environment.” He promised to initiate a process to provide “clearer guidance … without reducing rights to access.” The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, a state group devoted to protecting […]
Continue ReadingFor the ninth straight year, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is bestowing Openness in Government awards, or Opees, in recognition of achievements high and low. The awards are part of the observance of national Sunshine Week (sunshineweek.org), March 15-21. The nonpartisan council consists of representatives of media organizations and others devoted to the cause […]
Continue ReadingDeep in the bowels of Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed 2015-17 budget is language to exempt research done by the University of Wisconsin System from the state’s open records law, unless it is published or patented. This blanket exemption would spare the UW from needing a good reason to deny access to these records, as current […]
Continue ReadingOne of Wisconsin’s most vexing open records issues could be headed toward resolution. For the past several years, problems have arisen over differing interpretations of how the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act should affect access to records here. Journalists and others contend it was never meant to block the release of routine information in police […]
Continue ReadingIt’s a pretty simple question for a public official: “What exactly do you do with your time?” Sometimes, the best way to answer that question is to obtain the official’s calendar, through the state’s open records law. In my work as a reporter, I’ve done this for the state treasurer and his staff, who work […]
Continue ReadingRecently, I was told by a court official in Outagamie County that federal law prohibited the release of the name of a man I had just heard speak in open court. He was a participant in the county’s Drug and Alcohol Treatment Court. He had been charged with driving while intoxicated as a fourth offense, […]
Continue ReadingFollowing the Aug. 9 police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, citizens and the public demanded to know the involved officer’s name. The Ferguson Police Department stirred national attention, and some outrage, by waiting six days to reveal it: Officer Darren Wilson. Wisconsin has Ferguson beat. On April 30, 2014, a […]
Continue ReadingMary Burke was succinct. She used a single word —“Yes” — to answer four of six questions from the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council about open government. The Democratic candidate for governor responded affirmatively when asked if she would: Release a detailed weekly calendar in advance listing her appointments, public meetings and travel schedule. […]
Continue ReadingIn Wisconsin, the office of attorney general has the authority to interpret and prosecute the state’s open records and open meetings laws. It is arguably the most important office in the state for promoting and defending our tradition of open government. With that in mind, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council asked the three Democrats […]
Continue ReadingWhen state employees misbehave, does the public have a right to know who they are? Two state agencies are answering that question in different ways. Both the state Department of Justice and Department of Natural Resources have in the recent past blacked out the names of state workers from records of disciplinary actions released to […]
Continue ReadingMost candidates for public office, when asked, will pledge their support for open and transparent government. The real question is: Are they committed to fixing problems and expanding what information is available? Recently, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council drew up a “Legislative wish-list for open government” — changes in state law to improve access […]
Continue ReadingIn early May the newspaper I work for, the Wisconsin State Journal, requested the official portraits of the Madison police officers involved in the fatal shooting a few days earlier of a man police say had just stabbed two women to death. Although he’d released the officers’ names, Madison Police Chief Mike Koval initially balked […]
Continue ReadingIn early April, in a case brought by the conservative MacIver Institute against state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals declared that communications from citizens to lawmakers are, as one judge put it, “subject to the open records law, without redaction.” But the court also recognized that legislators have the power to […]
Continue ReadingShould enforcement of Wisconsin’s open records and open meetings laws depend on individual citizens having to file often costly and protracted lawsuits? That is one option prescribed under these laws, and those who prevail in such cases can recover attorney’s fees. But the laws also contain provisions intended to help people resolve disputes in a […]
Continue ReadingAs part of national Sunshine Week (sunshineweek.org), March 16-22, members of the Madison student and professional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists fanned out across the capital city, handing out fortune cookies. We dropped a handful in the offices of the elected officials, from Madison School Board to Gov. Scott Walker, as well as […]
Continue ReadingThis last year has seen almost constant threats to the state’s openness laws. We’ve had local law enforcement agencies suppressing drivers license information, a state senator claiming immunity from civil suits to evade the open records law, and attempts to deny public access to records of circuit court cases and university research. All of these […]
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