BARABOO – In a 32-page decision filed Friday, a Green Lake County judge sharply criticized Sauk County officials over repeatedly denying records requests from the Baraboo News Republic. The newspaper filed a lawsuit in 2017 seeking documents related to the death of a man on government-condemned land. Controversies over the hiring and firing of the county’s top administrative official followed the death.
“The Court finds that the (county) fails to understand that the release of records is the presumption,” Circuit Court Judge Mark Slate wrote about the county’s redactions to an email. “Their actions seem to be the opposite. That a record is not releasable unless someone can prove it should be released.”
In his ruling, Slate rejected the county’s argument that all communications involving an attorney are exempt from disclosure under the state’s Open Records Law. If courts were to accept that argument, Slate wrote, government officials could “side-step the open records law” simply by copying their attorneys on all emails.
