Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council

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 […]

More than a year and a half after the expiration of his term, Dr. Frederick Prehn continues to occupy a seat on the Natural Resources Board, which sets policy for the state Department of Natural Resources. His refusal to step down has allowed him to cast the deciding vote in key decisions related to wildlife […]

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. […]

Josh Kaul and Eric Toney are miles apart on many issues, but when it comes to open government, the candidates vying for Wisconsin attorney general in the Nov. 8 election agree: more money is needed to handle enforcement of the state’s transparency laws. The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council sent questionnaires to Kaul, the Democratic […]

Wisconsin’s open records law is most often used by requesters seeking to obtain records from a government agency.  But occasionally it works in reverse, allowing someone to block the release of records to a requester. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has recently affirmed important limits on such efforts. Ironically, it was the court that created the […]

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 […]

Most of the time, public officials in Wisconsin obey the state’s openness laws. Sometimes, they need a little prodding from the courts. But the recent conduct of Robin Vos and Michael Gableman is something altogether new, and deeply disturbing. Both Vos, the speaker of the state Assembly, and Gableman, whom Vos hired at taxpayer expense […]

Since 1979, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has allowed cameras and microphones in state courtrooms, subject to reasonable restrictions. Thirty years ago, Milwaukee serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s sanity trial was broadcast live. In 2006, former Green Bay Packers tight end Mark Chmura’s sexual assault and child enticement trial was broadcast live. This past November, Kyle Rittenhouse’s […]

If a legislator deletes an email, is it truly gone? Not necessarily. On March 10, Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn ordered Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to search for deleted emails that should have been preserved after an open records request from American Oversight, a watchdog group. Weeks later, Vos’ team surrendered an astounding 20,000 […]

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, exactly as intended. The business court […]

For the sixteenth consecutive year, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is presenting its Openness Awards, or Opees, to recognize outstanding efforts to protect the state’s tradition of open government, as well as some of the threats to it. The awards, part of the observance of national Sunshine Week (sunshineweek.org), March 13-19, are given in […]

In recent years, the news business in Wisconsin has seen a lot of bad news. Dozens of newspapers have closed. Revenues are way down. Staffs are being trimmed. And “vulture” hedge funds are circling, threatening to pick clean the bones of this once robust industry. But there is at least one piece of good news: […]

Every time an elected official sends an email, it becomes a public record. When an employee at a government agency makes a purchase, that transaction is the public’s business. Whenever a permit or license is issued by a government authority, this is information you should be able to obtain. These records, which include everything from […]

Two years ago this month, a Madison East High School teacher chaperoning a Minneapolis field trip creeped into students’ rooms using copies of their room keys and planted hidden cameras in their bathrooms. On Nov. 22, a few weeks after the teacher, David Kruchten, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, Madison School Board finally […]

The Natural Resources Board, an all-volunteer body that guides policy for the Department of Natural Resources, is part of Wisconsin’s tradition of open government. The idea to empower volunteers  —  rather than politicians  —  was first proposed in the progressive era by leading conservationists, including Aldo Leopold, who understood that decisions about natural resources should […]

Bill Lueders was a young journalist at Madison’s Isthmus newspaper in the late 1980s when he learned the value of public records. Lueders wanted to see the complaints filed by citizens against the Madison police. This straightforward request led to a lawsuit — and then another one — joined by the Wisconsin State Journal and […]