Village of Waterford may have violated 1st Amendment by blocking citizen on Facebook
A federal judge ruled in January that Vos... violated the First Amendment when they blocked liberal group One Wisconsin Now. [Racine Journal Times]
Open Records
Plain Talk: Nygren attacking Evers on openness is the pot calling the kettle black
And, let's not forget Nygren's role in blocking the liberal group One Wisconsin Now from following him on Twitter. [Capital Times]
State Budget Blunder Shines Light on Brian Hagedorn’s Dim View of Open Records
Brian Hagedorn was at the center of some of the most notorious efforts to evade and gut Wisconsin’s open records law.
Robin Vos: The Secrecy Speaker
Robin Vos has shown he doesn’t like leaks in either his professional or private life, based on recent media reports and public records.
Please Rescind Walker’s Open Records Award
We urge you to rescind the “Openness” award you gave to Gov. Walker earlier this year. [Urban Milwaukee]
Will Brad Schimel Fire Himself?
Attorney General Said He Terminated Employee for Violating Open Records Law, But Brad Schimel Himself Sought to Hide Records of Junket to Hate Group Conference.
Is Brad Schimel More Interested in Protecting the Big Corporate Lobby Than Crime Victims?
Today, One Wisconsin Now Research Director Joanna Beilman-Dulin blasted DOJ’s response as, “wholly inadequate.”
Records runaround: In Wisconsin, long delays are common for those requesting documents
“Walker had a political problem because of what happened with the open records debacle a couple of years ago,” said Scot Ross of One Wisconsin Now. [Capital Times]
The dark days of open government
As Matt Rothschild and Scot Ross pointed out in a joint column, Walker has generally been a hostile force to transparency for much of his tenure as governor. [Lakeland Times]
Devil’s Advocates Radio: March 12, 2018
Scot Ross joins the Devils to criticize Scott Walker for his Open Records Award. [WRRD-AM]
Matt Rothschild and Scot Ross: Open records watchdog FOIC’ed up with Walker award
The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council could not have picked a worse recipient for its political openness award than Scott Walker. [Capital Times]
Open Records Watchdog FOIC’ed Up With Scott Walker Award
The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council could not have picked a worse recipient for its political openness award than Scott Walker.
Dee J. Hall: Public officials shouldn’t block social media users
Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now, said that is exactly what is happening with his organization. [Wisconsin State Journal]
DOJ Denies Group’s Request for Swag Costs
Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel's Dept. of Justice has denied a liberal group's request for records detailing promotional purchases during his tenure. [Associated Press]
Brad Schimel Swag Update: Attorney General Denies Request to Provide Details on Purchases of Promotional Material Using Public Funds
“He’s spending our money to buy things like commemorative coins, travel mugs and towels and he owes us a complete accounting of it.”
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Keeps Public in the Dark on His Whereabouts
A simple request to Milwaukee County’s top law enforcement official has yet to be fulfilled as constituents are left in the dark about his whereabouts.
Attorney General’s open government office gets knocked from left and right
Liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now has waited more than a month for calendars for Schimel and department spokesman Johnny Koremenos. [Wisconsin State Journal]
Cloud Over State Attorney General Brad Schimel’s Office for Sunshine Week With Failure to Respond to Simple Open Records Request
We’re shining a light today on the failure of the Attorney General who nearly two months later has yet to provide us with the requested documents.
Walker orders state agencies to improve records access
Scot Ross, director of the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now, called the executive order an “empty gesture.” [Iron Mountain Daily News]
Walker Orders State Agencies to Increase Access to Records
Scot Ross, director of the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now, called the executive order an "empty gesture." [Associated Press]
Supreme Court: Attorney General Schimel doesn’t have to release training tapes
The people of Wisconsin deserve to know how elected officials are doing their jobs. And Brad Schimel - at the time these videos were recorded - was an elected official. [WKOW-TV]
Keep an eye on state Public Records Board
Among the critics were conservative and liberal groups including One Wisconsin Now, as well as ordinary citizens with no political ax to grind. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
Rebecca Bradley, JoAnne Kloppenburg pledge transparency on Supreme Court
One group that has requested records from Bradley disagreed. The liberal group One Wisconsin Now requested Bradley's calendars in September. [Capital Times]
The ‘me-first’ session? 10 ways Walker and the Republican-led Legislature have moved to diminish accountability
The Walker administration cited the [records denial] provision... when the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now requested visitor logs to the governor's mansion earlier this year. [Capital Times]
Walker administration won’t explain what happened to WEDC text messages
Jenni Dye, research director for One Wisconsin Now, said she doesn’t believe the police logs meet the definition of “transitory” records. [Capital Times]
Scott Walker says DOA decision to not release WEDC text messages doesn’t match his policy
Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday indicated a decision by his administration to not release an employee's text messages related to a questionable WEDC loan goes against his own open records policy. [Capital Times]
Editorial: On open records, Public Records Board does the right thing
The Walker administration also cited the August redefinition of “transitory correspondence” when denying a records request from the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now. [Racine Journal Times]
Walker’s Secretive Governing Style
Then there was the open records request by One Wisconsin Now, asking for visitor logs at the governor’s mansion from November 2014 through early April 2015, during the time Walker was planning for and then campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination. Walker’s assistant legal counsel David J. Rabe claimed there were no visitor logs for […] [Urban Milwaukee]
Public Records Board under intense scrutiny
The action drew objections from groups on both sides of Wisconsin’s partisan divide, such as the as the liberal One Wisconsin Now . [Wisconsin Radio Network]
Records Board backtracks amid public outcry on access
The change drew criticism from conservative and liberal groups alike, including the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and One Wisconsin Now. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
Records board must reverse bad decision
Concealing a list of people who visit a public building, presumably to meet with the state’s most powerful leader, is arrogant and immediately suspect. [Wisconsin State Journal]
Closed to the public
Then there was the open records request by One Wisconsin Now, asking for visitor logs at the governor’s mansion from November 2014 through early April 2015, during the time Walker was planning for and then campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination. [Isthmus]
In Other News, Scott Walker’s Wisconsin Is Still as Crooked as Ever
A liberal watchdog group, One Wisconsin Now, filed an open-records request for the office calendars from Bradley's days as a judge in a lower case. [Esquire]
Wisconsin Board Reboots, Holds Hearing on Changes to Open Records Law
The changes also appear to address a records request from the advocacy group One Wisconsin Now. The organization repeatedly requested records which would show who visited the governor’s mansion before and after Walker became a presidential candidate. The group’s research director, Jenny Dye, got a “transitory records” denial one day after the board’s decision, and […] [PRWatch]
Liberal group alleges Justice Rebecca Bradley skirted Wisconsin open records law
A liberal group is alleging state Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley violated the state's open records law and says it is exploring options for legal recourse. [Capital Times]
One Wisconsin Now believes Bradley may have falsified calendars
One Wisconsin Now says that based on her comments in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Rebecca Bradley, violated the state’s open record laws. [Wisconsin Daily Independent]
In TV interview, Bill Lueders decries ‘culture of contempt for the public’s right to know’
Lueders’ group last week filed a verified complaint against the state Public Records Board, which it contended violated the open meetings law at its Aug. 24 meeting, when it voted to expand what can be considered as transitory records. Those transitory records — items considered to have no long-term value — have been central to […] [Capital Times]
Justice Rebecca Bradley’s meetings calendars empty for 2 1/2 years
Either Rebecca Bradley wasn't working very hard or she's hiding who she was meeting with and what she was doing on taxpayer time," Ross said in a written statement. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
Complaint filed over Walker’s denial of requests for public records
The rule changes also were raised in response to a request from One Wisconsin Now, a liberal group seeking a list of visitors to the governor’s residence. [Wisconsin Gazette]
Wisconsin Public Records Board head: We didn’t change transitory records definition
Gov. Walker’s administration cited the “transitory” record provision when it denied a records request for text messages by the Wisconsin State Journal, and when the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now requested visitor logs to the governor’s mansion earlier this year. [Capital Times]
Watchdog calls rules cited by Walker administration improper
The rule changes also were raised in response to a request from One Wisconsin Now, a liberal group seeking a list of visitor's to the governor's residence. [Associated Press]
Questions, answers about text messages, visitor logs and other Wisconsin open records issues
In April, the liberal group One Wisconsin Now requested copies of visitor logs for the executive residence. [Capital Times]
Quiet change in public records policy could shield messages
In another case involving transitory records from October, it was disclosed that Capitol Police did not maintain all the records of who visited the governor’s mansion in the runup to his July entry into the presidential race before the filing of an open records request by the liberal group One Wisconsin Now. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
Walker administration finding new way to deny public records
In response to a request from liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now, the Department of Administration released the reports which showed Walker meeting with presidential campaign staff at the residence. [Wisconsin State Journal]
Of course open records law applies to state Supreme Court
Neither Gableman nor Bradley has even had the courtesy to respond to One Wisconsin Now, which made the requests of them. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
Three justices slow to provide documents under open records law
Meanwhile, records requests the liberal group One Wisconsin Now made to conservative Justices Rebecca Bradley and Michael Gableman have gone unanswered for months. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
Editorial: What has Gov. Scott Walker got to hide?
As One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross pointed out, Walker and his aides have already “delayed, misdirected and obfuscated efforts to obtain very simple information — who’s coming and going at the taxpayer-funded executive mansion. [Capital Times]
Walker’s office says visitor logs for governor’s mansion, sought by liberal group, don’t exist
Their own behavior in retaining months of these records belies their own ridiculous argument. [Associated Press]
Scott Walker administration, liberal group at odds over partial release of mansion visitors’ log
The release of a partial list of visitors to the governor's mansion has prompted criticisms from open government advocates and a liberal organization, who are skeptical that the full scope of information requested has been provided. [Capital Times]
Walker: Presidential Campaign Staffers ‘Occasionally’ Worked From Governor’s Mansion
The liberal group One Wisconsin Now has received some of the records it requested about visitors to the governor's mansion. The logs from earlier this year show that people working on Walker's presidential bid were among those dropping by. [Wisconsin Public Radio]