One Wisconsin Now Statement on Walker Pension Gimmick, Refusal to Fulfill Open Records Request

MADISON, Wis. — One Wisconsin Now released the following statement on Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s latest pension gimmick in light of his office’s refusal to honor an open records request from April, filed by One Wisconsin Now. One Wisconsin Now requested records of the full pension benefits that Walker is scheduled to receive from Milwaukee County:

“This is another election-year gimmick by Walker to divert attention from his failure to solve the Milwaukee County pension scandal. He’s been caught before with his hand in the pension cookie jar, and his office has stalled an open records request to discover whether he’s really put the lid back on.

“When Walker first ran for county executive he promised to cut his pay, but during his 2004 re-election campaign it was uncovered that Walker was collecting pension benefits on his full $132,000 salary. When confronted with his deception, Walker filed paperwork to “correct” the problem.

“However, an open records request by One Wisconsin Now earlier this year discovered that his official pension statement still lists his higher salary. While Walker had filed waivers, the official form still had the position’s full salary listed. So in April, OWN filed a second open records request to determine the reasons for this discrepancy.

“Despite state guidelines that open records requests be responded to promptly, OWN is still waiting for the requested material.

“When Walker talks about pensions, taxpayers should hang on to their wallets.”