Ask lawmakers for the records they delete
May. 2, 2022
If a legislator deletes an email, is it truly gone? Not necessarily.
If a legislator deletes an email, is it truly gone? Not necessarily.
In the latest "Your Right to Know" column, Attorney Richard Niess says that anyone who doubts that secrecy in government breeds poor public policy should take a look at the Business Court Pilot Project launched by our Wisconsin Supreme Court.
"For the last five years, the project has granted large commercial interests outsized influence over our court system’s handling of their cases," he writes. The business court pilot debuted in 2017 in Waukesha County and the 8th judicial district (encompassing Brown, Marinette, Kewaunee, Oconto, Door, Outagamie and Waupaca Counties). It was expanded to other districts and, in a surprise move, to Dane County in 2020.
In the latest “Your Right to Know” column, Wisconsin Freedom of Informational Council president Bill Lueders shares the winners of the 2022 Openness Awards, or Opees.
In the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council's latest "Your Right to Know" column, Wisconsin Watch managing editor Dee J. Hall writes about the Wisconsin Local Media Advertising Tax Credit, which she says deserves to pass, because preserving the public’s right to know hinges on keeping local news outlets — and the local businesses that advertise with them — alive and well. The column is available for republication and can be downloaded here.
While the process of making a public records request is relatively simple, it is a formal process nonetheless and there are a few steps to follow. In the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council's latest "Your Right to Know" column, reporter Steven Potter outlines the steps required to obtain public records.
The column is available to WNA members for republication at no cost.
In the latest "Your Right to Know" column, Matthew DeFour of the Wisconsin State Journal uses two hidden-camera cases at Madison East High School to illustrate the need for school investigation records to be available to the public.
Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, a group dedicated to open government. The column is available to WNA members for republication at no cost.
In the latest "Your Right to Know" column, Tony Wilkin Gibart, executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, writes that Wisconsin's open records law has given the public a clearer picture of the controversy involving the Natural Resources Board.
But the picture is far from complete, and that is why his group has sued the NRB's chairman, Frederick Prehn. His column is available for republication by WNA members.
Lueders, editor of The Progressive, was one of four honorees inducted into the National Freedom of Information Coalition’s State Open Government Hall of Fame.
Records requesters don't always get what they seek — even when they're entitled to documents under their state's public records law.
So, what makes the difference when it comes to compliance? The answer may surprise you, writes Christa Westerberg, an attorney at Pines Bach law firm in Madison and vice president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council in the latest "Your Right to Know" column.
Last month, a judge ruled that the state Legislature violated the open records law when it withheld records regarding the sexual harassment of a female staffer. However, an order to release the unredacted records has been put on hold as the governmental body appeals the decision — despite the fact that the former legislator who the allegations were lodged against says, if it were up to him, they would have been released long ago.