Too many officials believe they can get away with withholding public records. Or they can rest easy in the knowledge it will be taxpayers, not them, stuck with the bill even if they lose a challenge.
Tag: open records law
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Long waits undercut records law
Wisconsin’s Open Records Law allows any person to obtain any document in the possession of state and local government officials, with limited exceptions. But, unlike in some other states, there is no set time limit.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Using outside record vendors brings risks
The use of outside vendors to store government records raises a host of potential problems.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Officials must bear burden of proof in records cases
The Open Records Law creates a presumption that government records are public, which means that government records custodians must prove their case in order to win.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Some lawmakers still crave secrecy
Last year on July 2, the state Legislature launched a sneak attack on Wisconsin’s open records law, effectively seeking to exempt legislators from its reach. That effort died following a huge public backlash. But some lawmakers, it’s clear, remain actively hostile to the state’s tradition of open government.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Ruling restores access to accident report data
A Wisconsin court of appeals has finally put to rest some of the questions over what information must be withheld under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, or DPPA. Its recent decision ends years of confusion in a way that squares with the state’s traditions of openness — and with common sense.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: State should support student expression
Two years ago, the Fond du Lac School District unveiled new guidelines requiring administrative review and approval before the publication of any student media. The reaction by students was swift, democratic and effective. Within days, they had publicized the change online, presented their case at a school board meeting, appeared on local media, and gathered […]
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Walker’s records directive is good news
Sunshine Week, the annual celebration of open government and the people’s right to know, got an unexpected and welcome beam of hope in mid-March when Gov. Scott Walker issued an executive order directing state agencies to speed up responses to public records requests and to track them to show their performance.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Records advocates plan traveling show
Among the many remarkable things about the defeat of the proposed overhaul of the Wisconsin Public Records Law over the July 4 weekend last summer was the way the media, open government groups, advocacy organizations on the left and right, and the public coalesced to point out how ill-conceived the idea was.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Concerns linger over ‘transitory’ records
The last six months have been a roller coaster for Wisconsin’s open records law. After the Legislature’s failed attack on the law over the Independence Day holiday, August brought a new threat. A little-known state board expanded the definition of “transitory records,” which can be immediately destroyed. Once this action was revealed, there was an […]
Posted inGovernment, Open records, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
Former cabinet members: Top Scott Walker aide ordered them to avoid state email, phones
Two former members of Gov. Scott Walker’s cabinet say the administration has had a policy of communicating official business through private channels. The allegations come as the Walker administration faces criticism for cutting public access to internal text messages and other so-called transitory state records.
Posted inBlogs, WisWatch Blog
Veteran journalist hopes to keep government accountable
Dick Record witnessed first-hand what he says is the “deterioration” of government transparency during his 40-year journalism career in Wisconsin.