By Julia Hunter
Wisconsin Newspaper Association
MINOCQUA – Dane County Circuit Court Judge Valerie L. Bailey-Rihn will hear arguments Tuesday in The Lakeland Times‘ public records lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
The newspaper filed the complaint in July 2017 after DOJ redacted the names of disciplined employees and law enforcement officers in records provided in response to a public records request. While the parties came to an agreement on some of the redactions, several were left unresolved, and the newspaper requested a summary judgment in September.
Assistant Attorney General Paul Ferguson said in his response the public interest was sufficiently served by releasing the circumstances of the discipline without identifying the employee. He further argued the employees whose names were redacted weren’t serious offenders, had only violated workplace policies and weren’t high-ranking DOJ personnel.
The response runs contrary to the requirement under the state’s public records law that the balancing test must be applied to “each individual record.”
Allowing records custodians to redact names from disciplinary records whenever the custodian claims the employee is “low level” and the misconduct was “minor” would improperly create a dangerous loophole — and a blanket exception — from the records law, according to The Lakeland Times’ attorney, April Barker of Schott, Bublitz & Engel. Barker is also the co-vice president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.
She added that if the proposed redactions are permitted, “In many cases of misconduct, the public may have no way to determine whether considerations such as nepotism influence the disciplinary decisions of government employers, nor could they necessarily verify whether disciplined employees previously committed similar misconduct in the same or other positions.”
The hearing is at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in Courtroom 8C on the eighth floor of the Dane County Courthouse.
