Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council

Imagine that a developer has been lobbying your local town board to approve a controversial development. You file a record request asking for all emails between that developer and the board’s three members. None of them have official government email accounts, so they search their personal emails. Two members each turn over more than 15 […]

If you want to see all of the emails your mayor received and sent during the week of March 16-20, 2020, to find communications regarding the coronavirus outbreak, all you have to do is ask. Under state law, the mayor is required to retain these and provide them on request. If you want to see […]

In March, The Washington Post reported that University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank sought to move a conversation around the COVID-19 pandemic and students returning to campus in the fall to a private portal used by presidents and chancellors of the 14 Big Ten universities. “I would be delighted to share information,” Blank responded in […]

It happens all the time. A member of the public or representative of the press will file a request under Wisconsin’s open records law, which applies to all state and local government entities. But instead of records, the requester gets a bill. “The city will require pre-payment in full before we begin fulfilling your request,” […]

For the 15th consecutive year, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is presenting its Openness in Government Awards, or Opees, recognizing outstanding achievement in the cause of transparency. Several of this years’ awards are related to the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced wholesale changes in how government officials conduct the public’s business. All are predicated […]

Wisconsin lawmakers will soon begin redrawing congressional and state voting boundaries, in accordance with the latest Census. It’s a good time to reflect on how that process has played out before — and for the public to demand greater transparency this time around. A good example of how things ought not work comes from the […]

To keep each other safe, we’ve been asked to add barriers  —  distance and masks  —  to our face-to-face interaction. We also have videoconferencing to help overcome those barriers. Yet to this day, Republican leaders in the state Assembly are holding meetings without requiring attendees to wear masks or offering a video option for those […]

As a local government reporter, I watch a lot of public meetings — from city councils and county boards, to criminal intake hearings and public listening sessions, to basically everything in-between. It has not been a walk in the park. Many meetings have cut-out mid-livestream, with those in the meeting carrying on anyway, essentially operating […]

Last January, a person involved in local emergency management asked the Office of Open Government, part of the state Justice Department, whether emergency preparedness coalitions run by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) are subject to the state’s open meetings and open records laws. The answer to this question, it turns out, is yes. […]

In late October, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections finally disclosed the number of COVID-19 deaths among people incarcerated in state prisons. That’s good news. But it’s troubling that this disclosure, which revealed that at least five state inmates have died, came only after months of delaying, obfuscating and covering up. And the DOC is still […]

Here are some questions for parents to ponder: Do you care if your kids get COVID-19? Do you want to be able to stay informed about coronavirus cases in your community? Should officials responsible for public health and education be held accountable for how they respond (or fail to respond) to the pandemic? If you […]

The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that many of our jobs can be done digitally and remotely. We’ve found that we can process reports, post documents online and share files with ease from our home workplaces. In some cases, providing access to information is actually easier than it was before. The same thing could — […]

In a scene from the movie “A Few Good Men,” the character played by Tom Cruise spars with Jack Nicholson’s Colonel Jessup over a hazing that killed a soldier. Cruise demands, “I want the truth!,” to which Nicholson famously responds, “You can’t handle the truth!” Wisconsin citizens are getting the “You can’t handle the truth” […]

Recently, the National Freedom of Information Coalition and the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information issued a statement calling for greater transparency and accountability from law enforcement. They were joined by more than 50 groups, including the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, Wisconsin Newspaper Association, and the Wisconsin Transparency Project. “Trust is a key element […]

In March, as Wisconsin enacted Safer at Home, state and local governments scrambled to build new ways to govern from remote locations while still complying with our open meeting laws. Even in the age of COVID-19, we still have the right to watch public bodies in action. In a positive step for government transparency, people […]

Donald Trump says it’s just not fair. The president, through his campaign, is suing television station WJFW-TV in Rhinelander for airing a political ad that allegedly defamed him. “The advertisement was the product of an intentional and malicious effort to manufacture a false statement through the use of digital technology,” the lawsuit filed on April […]

Believe it or not, this has been a relatively quiet time on the open government front. In my role with the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, I often field calls from reporters and citizens regarding the problems they are experiencing getting access to public meetings and records. In recent weeks, those calls are down, way […]