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Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council

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Author: Tom Kamenick

September: Using outside record vendors brings risks

September 3, 2024Tom Kamenick

Last March, the Wisconsin Examiner asked the Black River Falls Police Department to search for emails regarding the death of a missing Indigenous man. The department said it would process the request but the news outlet would have to pay $4,400. That’s the amount the city’s IT vendor, Tech Pros, quoted to perform the search. […]

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June: Officials must bear burden of proof in records cases

June 4, 2024Tom Kamenick

Imagine I sue a school district for refusing to provide copies of records. Do I have to prove I’m entitled to them, or does the district have to prove it can withhold them? That’s a question the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, along with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, […]

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September: Government lists are public information

September 5, 2023Tom Kamenick

As part of doing business, government agencies often maintain contact lists or distribution lists. These days those are typically email addresses, but they also can contain physical addresses or even phone numbers. Your state legislator probably has a list of email addresses to send newsletters. Your local governmental units might have multiple lists for different […]

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November: Don’t pay too much for that photocopy!

November 1, 2022Tom Kamenick

How much does it cost to copy one piece of paper? If you ask records custodians in Wisconsin, many will tell you 25 cents. At least that’s what they charge. Is that number accurate? Commercial printers charge half that for small jobs, and bulk printing jobs can get as low as two cents per page. […]

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August: Court ruling kneecaps records law

August 1, 2022Tom Kamenick

Let’s say you request records from a public official under the state’s Open Records Law. Let’s say the official, though legally obligated to provide them, does not. Let’s say the records are not provided until after you hire a lawyer and file a lawsuit, at considerable expense. Have you won the case? Should you be […]

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July: No private email accounts for public business

July 1, 2021July 1, 2021Tom Kamenick

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 […]

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November: Protect your right to open government

October 31, 2019October 31, 2019Tom Kamenick

Wisconsin’s tradition of government transparency rests on the state’s open records and open meetings laws. They declare that nearly every government document is open to public inspection, and nearly every meeting of groups formed to do governmental work must be open to the public. Unfortunately, those laws are woefully underenforced. District attorneys and the state’s […]

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Recent Posts

  • May: When people die, openness matters
  • April: Improve access to municipal court records
  • March: Opee Awards highlight highs and lows
  • February: How cost is used to deny access to records
  • Wisconsin FOIC Seeking Opee Award Nominations through Jan. 31, 2025

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