Isthmus, Wisconsin Associated Press sue Gov. Scott Walker over access to emails

from Isthmus/The Daily Page:

Isthmus newspaper and the Wisconsin Associated Press today filed a lawsuit against Gov. Scott Walker over his office's failure to respond to open records requests regarding emails received by his office.

"The governor said he had gotten more than 8,000 emails as of Feb. 17, with 'the majority' urging him to 'stay firm' on his budget repair bill," says Isthmus News Editor Bill Lueders. "We're just trying to see these largely supportive responses."

The lawsuit, filed March 4 in Dane County court, names as defendants Gov. Walker and the office of the governor.

Isthmus made its request by hand-delivered letter on Feb. 18, a day after Walker referred to these 8,000 emails and about an hour before he held another press conference saying the number had since swelled to 19,000, again mostly positive. The paper followed this with two communications with Walker spokesperson Cullen Werwie (the second of which, on Feb. 24, was also sent to Brian Hagedorn, the governor's legal counsel). Both asked for an update on the status of the original request.

Read the rest here.

Four States Propose Restrictions to 911 Call Recordings

In a troublesome shift away from transparency, Alabama, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Florida are proposing legislation to limit the media's access to 911 call recordings.

Alabama calls for all emergency recordings to be private and exempt from freedom of information laws unless a court order issues, although transcripts could be available.

Ohio would restrict 911 recordings, banning public access to recordings while allowing transcripts to be read on air. Ohio would levy monetary fines of $10,000 for violations by media outlets.

Wisconsin would keep all audio recordings confidential and would make transcripts available upon request. A proposed amendment would allow the media to inspect, but not copy or disseminate transcripts.

Florida would make audio recordings confidential unless obtained by court order, and would only release transcripts after 60 days.

For more information, click here.

Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council Opee Awards Announced

The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council announced its fourth annual Opee Awards to people and institutions that have had an impact on open government in the state.

The winners are:

Political Openness Advocate of the Year (the "Popee"): J.B. Van Hollen

Citizen Openness Advocate of the Year (the "Copee"): Daniel O. Wilson

Media Openness Advocate(s) of the Year (the "Mopee") (tie): The UWM Post and the Green Bay Press-Gazette

Open Records Scoop of the Year (the "Scoopee"): Tony Galli

No Friend of Openness Award (the "Nopee"): The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA)

Dumbest Open Government Decision (the "Dopee"): Wisconsin Department of Corrections

Fore more about the winners, click here.

Three States Weigh Keeping 911 Calls from Public

Alabama, Ohio and Wisconsin lawmakers have proposed barring the release of 911 calls, citing privacy concerns and a potential chilling effect on people's willingness to call 911 for fear of the call being broadcast later.

Open government advocates disagree, arguing that the calls should be public as they can aid public safety and news organizations should be able to air the calls on a case-by-case basis.

For more information, click here.

Proposed Law Would Keep 911 Call Recordings from Wisconsin Public

Wisconsin lawmakers are considering a bill that would no longer treat 911 call recordings as a public record. The bill would allow a transcript of the call to be released, however. Lawmakers in favor of the bill say the move would protect the privacy of callers; however, opponents maintain call recordings reveal important information concerning public safety.

For more information, click here.

Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Faces Pressure to Open Up

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA), a 114-year old institution that sanctions high school athletics and runs post-season state championship tournaments, is coming under pressure to open up and abide by state open government laws.

A proposed law is moving through the state Assembly that would prohibit school districts from belonging to an interscholastic athletic association unless the association abides by state open records and meetings laws. The measure would force the WIAA to either grant access or lose members.

The WIAA maintains it is a private organization and not subject to state open records laws.

For more on the dispute between the WIAA and a local judge and longtime track official that lead to the proposed legislation, click here.

Wisconsin Bill Proposes to Remove Certain Court Records from Public Access

A Wisconsin Assembly committee is considering a bill that would remove public access to online information about pending court cases or cases where a person was found innocent or there was no civil liability, including cases where orders or charges are reopened, vacated, set aside or overturned on appeal.

Proponents of the bill say online access to court records creates an opportunity for employers, landlords and others to discriminate against individuals who were accused, but not convicted of any wrongdoing.

Critics say the bill is an insult to the public, and note that the information is publicly-available at the courthouse.

The bill would permit access to the records by judges, court officials, law enforcement officials, attorneys, accredited journalists and bill collectors.

Read more here.

Proposed Law Would Force Wisconsin's Athletic Association to Comply with Open Government Laws

The Green Bay Press Gazette reports that a proposed bill before Wisconsin's Assembly would prevent public schools from joining athletic associations unless the organizations adhere to state open records and open meetings laws.

Read more about it here and an editorial here.

Federal Law Restricts Public Access to Gun Shop Inspection Records

As part of its investigation into the West Milwaukee gun store known as Badger Guns & Ammo, Badger Outdoors and Badger Guns, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has sought records to determine the compliance history of these gun dealers whose guns were used to wound six officers in Milwaukee over the past two years.

But the papers efforts have been stymied by a law that strictly limits what information the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives can release on gun shop inspections. The law requires heavy redaction of inspection documents and a limit of the ATF's release of gun trace data.

Read more about the law's effect on law enforcement here.

Posts Made on Social Networking Sites Are Public Records

Wisconsin Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen issued an opinion in which he states that electronic communications made by elected officials are public records, even when they are posted on social networking site. Van Hollen states that the Wisconsin Public Records laws applies whenever the content is connected to the official's purpose or function.

Get more info here.

Attempting to Examine the Relationships Between Drug Companies, Medical Device Makers, and Med Schools

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and reporter John Fauber have filed suit against the University of Wisconsin's medical school and its supporting foundation for violating the state's public records laws. The lawsuit alleges that the school and foundation have wrongfully refused to release faculty comments about a proposed conflict-of-interest policy.

The institutions have refused to provide the faculty comments on the ground that they were not public records, and even if they were, there was a greater public interest in keeping them secret than in disclosing them.

Critics contend that the money drug and medical-device companies pay to doctors and medical school lead to higher health care costs.

For more information, click here.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Journalism Students Pleased with Attorney General's Response

In April, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee journalism students filed a request with Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen regarding the applicability of the public records and open meetings law to student governments in the University of Wisconsin System. They say they are pleased with the Attorney General's response, which concludes that a student government organization is subject to the requirements of Wisconsin's open meetings law under certain circumstances.

What a "Presumption of Openness" Means

The Janesville Gazette in Wisconsin reports it battled with the Rock County corporate counsel, Jeff Kuglitsch, to obtain documents related to the resignation of former Human Resources Director John Becker. Yet it took the newspaper two months and four letters to obtain the documents, which were sitting in Kuglitsch's office the whole time.

Attorney Robert Dreps with the Wisconsin Newspaper Association was outraged when he learned of the tactics used to respond to the newspaper's records request, calling them "semantics" and noting, "Open records law provisions aren't determined by where you put the document or what you call it."

For his part, Kuglitsch maintains he followed the law.

Wisconsin Legislator Wants Better Access to Death Information

Wisconsin state Senator Cale Case is proposing legislation to require coroners to "furnish as much information as is not privileged or confidential by law and shall use redaction as necessary to allow the fullest disclosure authorized by law." Case says death investigations have become less accessible to the public as technology and investigative techniques improve, and notes that it's a matter of public safety that coroners and investigators be held accountable to the public.

Get more information here.

Tracing the Source of Food-Borne Illnesses in Schools

USA Today investigated government-run school lunch programs and found schools have virtually no way to know where all the food on any given lunch tray comes from because there are so many processors and distributors involved. Add to that no timely way to check the health and safety records of those companies supplying the food and a poor alert system for any problems found, and you've got a recipe for widespread food-borne illness outbreaks like the one that hit Racine, Wisconsin in October 2007 when 101 children became ill after eating tortillas served in the school lunch program.

Read all about it and get links to documents obtained by USA Today here.

AP Seeks Video of Stinger Grenade Explosion in Prison Cell

The Associated Press filed suit against the Wisconsin Department of Corrections for its refusal to release a 2005 video showing a stinger grenade exploding inside a prisoner's cell after a guard dropped it.

The Department refused the open records request on grounds that the tape would jeopardize the security and safety of inmates and staff at the prison.  

Get more information here. 

Wisconsin Legislator Wants to Limit Access to State Court Records

Wisconsin Rep. Marlin Schneider wants to restrict access to information in Wisconsin's online court records because employers use the site to screen potential employees and neighbors check out neighbors online.   He proposes to show only information for criminal convictions or civil judgments, and requiring the public to pay $10 annually and register with the state courts director to use the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access site.  Judges, police, attorneys and reporters could still use the site for free, though the state courts director would track each visitor's searches.

Needless to say FOI advocates say Schneider's proposal goes too far. 

Check it out.

Wisconsin One Step Closer to a Reporter's Shield Law

The Wisconsin Assembly passed the Whistleblower Protection Act, which is the state's first shield law for reporters.

From the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press:

The Wisconsin bill, which would offer a qualified privilege for reporters and their confidential sources, would be the 38th state-level shield law if enacted. But before the Wisconsin bill becomes law, it must also pass in the state senate and obtain the governor's signature. Gov. Jim Doyle is generally supportive of the idea but hasn't reviewed the bill yet, the Associated Press reported.

More here.

Green Bay Must Yield Redacted Legal Invoices to Newspaper

A Wisconsin judge ordered the city of Green Bay to turn over redacted legal invoices to the Green Bay Press-Gazette in response to an open records request by the paper. The newspaper had requested legal invoices paid by the city for all outside legal counsel worked in 2007 and 2008.

The city had initially provided only a summary of the work preformed by the city by outside law firms and the amounts paid to them and objected to producing the invoices saying they contained attorney-client privileged information.

Brown County Circuit Court Judge J.D. McKay ordered the city to produce the bills by October 2 with the confidential or attorney-client privileged information redacted.

For more, click here.

Wisconsin Decides Whether Personal Emails Are Public Records

The Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear a case in November that decides whether personal emails of public employees are subject to the state's open records laws. The case stems from the request of a private citizen who wanted to know if public school teachers were violating school policy by using work email to discuss school board elections. When asked for email messages "from the computer [the teachers] use[d] during their school work day," teachers objected to providing emails of a purely personal nature. The Court must decide whether the public interest in disclosure trumps the privacy and "reputational" rights of Wisconsin citizens.

More here.