Your Right to Know

WisconsinEye needs to raise $250,000 (three months of its operating budget) to bridge the financial gap and allow state Capitol programming to resume.

When protective laws are zealously applied to contexts for which they were not intended, it can cause its own form of harm.

All too often, secrecy and confidentiality carry the day in proceedings of state and local government. 

Members of the public shouldn’t have to take out a loan to get information they’re already paying for as taxpayers.

As homelessness grows across Wisconsin, the silence by lawmakers leaves the public guessing.

This month, for the first time in 30 years, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is without Justice Ann Walsh Bradley. It is also without one of its most consistent advocates for transparency in government. 

Recent weeks have brought forth two of the most egregious violations of the public’s right to know that I have seen in more than three decades of tracking openness issues on the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council. 

Probably the most commonly used — and, in my opinion, abused — exemption in our state’s Open Meetings Law is the one that lets governmental bodies meet behind closed doors “whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session.”

In any community, the role of the medical examiner is vital.

The ACLU of Wisconsin released a report last fall that underscores both the scope and the severe consequences of municipal court practices.