Open Records

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.

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.

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]