Category: 2023 Columns

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 […]

In recent years, public schools in Wisconsin and across the country have come under intense scrutiny. At issue are some of the most politically engaging, high-stakes issues of our time: what we teach children about race, gender and identity; how we police the line between free speech and anti-discrimination law; and the role of parents […]

In early April, I requested some records from the Madison Police Department regarding what it said was the sole disciplinary action taken against an MPD officer or employee in the first three months of this year. It was an exceedingly minor matter — a sergeant who got a one-day suspension for sending an “unprofessional email […]

When Madison Metropolitan School District communications director Tim LeMonds sued his employer in March to block release of a complaint against him, he claimed there would be grave repercussions if the public were allowed to see the allegations it contained. Access to the documents, LeMonds’ lawyers argued, would harm the school district’s “ability to effectively […]

A unanimous voice vote by the Wisconsin Senate on a piece of legislation is a rare occurrence. But that’s what happened on April 19, when state senators approved a bill to undo a decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court regarding public records. Senate Bill 117, sponsored by Sen. Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville) and Rep. Todd Novak […]

Recently, Wisconsin Watch revealed how members of the Wisconsin Legislature’s powerful budget committee secretly hold up projects or programs they don’t like. They often do so, reporter Jacob Resneck found, without following a state law that requires the committee to schedule a hearing within 14 working days of such an objection. The hearings are designed […]

For the 17th consecutive year, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council has named its annual Openness in Government Awards, or Opees, in honor of national Sunshine Week, March 12-18.  Five winners and one loser were selected from among an uncommonly large number of nominations. And the Opees go to: Public Openness Award (“Popee”): Jim O’Keefe. […]

Many people in Wisconsin are under the impression that the disastrous probe into the state’s 2020 presidential election conducted by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman is over, as are its costs to taxpayers. They’re wrong. The probe, conducted over 14 months by Gableman at the behest of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, failed to […]

As ever, 2022 was a roller coaster year for open government. The Wisconsin Supreme Court made it harder for requesters to recover attorneys’ fees for open records suits, but also issued a ruling to prevent outsiders from blocking responses to open records requests. Elections officials struggled under the weight of open records requests in the […]