Wisconsin Transparency Project

https://www.wizmnews.com/2024/07/12/ignorance-of-the-law-is-no-excuse/

Ignorance of the law is no excuse - WIZM 92.3FM 1410AM It isn’t much punishment if you get caught doing something wrong but agree not to do it again. Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski has agreed to make changes to how her office responds to open records requests after a court settlement with a conservative group. The Institute for Reforming...

https://www.wiopenrecords.com/post/former-supervisor-files-second-lawsuit-against-town-of-grant

Former Supervisor Files Second Lawsuit Against Town of Grant Alleges repeated and blatant Open Meetings Law violationsFormer Town of Grant Supervisor Heather Grys-Luecht, with representation from the Wisconsin Transparency Project, has filed a lawsuit against the Town of Grant Board and its three Supervisors alleging 18 counts of violating the Open Meetings L...

Scott Gordon and Alice Herman go in-depth on all the ways the new law permitting police departments to charge for video redaction is going bad.

A reporter asked for body-camera footage. UW-Madison police threatened her with a fine. A hands-on encounter with Wisconsin’s newest and most troublesome open-records law.

https://captimes.com/opinion/dave-zweifel/opinion-officials-need-to-get-serious-about-openness-statutes/article_d340faba-3afb-11ef-afc5-57f32dad9850.html

Opinion | Officials need to get serious about openness statutes As a Wisconsin State Journal report shows, government officials have a knee-jerk tendency to withhold public information.

https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-secretary-of-state-records-lawsuit-e61c85cf0c3fd61b19df6fa2202cea4d

Wisconsin secretary of state settles open records lawsuit brought by conservatives Wisconsin’s Democratic secretary of state settled an open records lawsuit brought by a conservative policy group on Wednesday, agreeing to respond to all future requests even when her office has no responsive records.

While technically, yes, just about anything written down on paper (or electronically) becomes automatically copyrighted, that doesn't mean it can't be released in response to a record request.

Admittedly, this is Tennessee law at play, but federal copyright law is the same everywhere, and providing records to the public should be considered a fair use.

Judge says Nashville school shooter's writings can't be released as victims' families have copyright A Nashville judge has ruled that the writings of the person who killed three 9-year-olds and three adults at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville last year cannot be released to the public.

The new law allowing custodians to charge for time spent redacting police videos has been just bad, bad, bad.

July: Redaction costs threaten police video access – Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council July: Redaction costs threaten police video access 2024 Columns July 1, 2024July 4, 2024Bill Lueders The bill moved with lightning speed. It was introduced last December, passed the state Senate in January and the Assembly in February, and was signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers in March. 2023 Wiscon...

On page 3, the paper details a meetings complaint they filed with the Richland County DA. The Town of Buena Vista tried to skip using a properly noticed board meeting to have supervisors sign off on approving certificates of deposits with their financial institution via email instead.

Valley Sentinel - 06-27-2024 Spring Green area news. Valley Sentinel is your independent, local news source covering arts & culture, outdoors & recreation, local meetings, events and our larger Lower Wisconsin River Valley community. In times like these, our community needs to come together. So, let’s build community together...

From the Declaration of Independence's indictment against the King of England:

"He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures."

The framers cared about access to public records and government meetings!

Wisconsin Eye is criticizing - and subtly threatening - people who use their videos in political campaign ads.

This is disturbing. Yes, Wisconsin Eye is not actually a government agency. But it has taken on the role of providing coverage of government activities (and its existence is often used as an argument against state government providing its own coverage).

Wisconsin Eye should be protecting - not badgering - the First Amendment rights of the populace to use comments government officials have made in official proceedings.

PRESS RELEASE: WisconsinEye Calls for Refrain From Using Archived Video in Negative Campaign Advertising A disappointing trend in political campaign advertising has created a challenge for WisconsinEye Public Affairs Network that needs to be addressed.

An article heavily powered by record requests.

Isiah Holmes Outlines Milwaukee’s Secretive Surveillance Tech, Ahead of RNC - WORT-FM 89.9 Four years ago, the city of Milwaukee was slated to host the Democratic National Convention. Like many things in 2020, their plans largely went out the window and the majority […]

Good! Kudos to this judge and congratulations to the plaintiffs and their legal counsel.

Judge Orders Village Of Twin Lakes To Pay Resident $20,000 For Violating Public Records Law: Cronyism Alleged - Kenosha County Eye A Twin Lakes couple was recently awarded almost $20,000 from the Village of Twin Lakes for what a judge ruled was a violation of the Wisconsin Public Records Statute. Judge Frank Gagliardi signed an order on June 20, 2024 that awarded the Neals $11,000 in attorney’s fees, $1,442.70 in court costs,...

Off topic, but this is a good opportunity to talk about "harassment".

Yesterday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court unanimously ruled that an abortion protestor's repeated statements to an abortion worker (generally along the lines of that she could die at any time and she should repent before it was too late, which she took as threats) did not rise to the level of "harassment". It's worth a read, but the court emphasized that the First Amendment places an extremely high bar before speech crosses the line into something that can be punished or prohibited by government.

I hear about "harassment" all the time. My clients tend to be people in direct opposition to powerful local leaders. Tensions are often high and personalities are often clashing.

I see it from both sides. Government officials often accuse my clients of harassing them (with questions, with record requests, with accusations), but my clients often accuse the government officials with harassing them (by calling them out, criticizing them publicly, etc.).

It's almost never harassment, as a legal term. The bar to reach harassment is very, very high. This case is a good reminder of that, and kudos to SCOWIS for getting it right - unanimously.

www.wicourts.gov

The legal advisor's "guidance"? Don't post on social media.

Sigh.

Look, the underlying reasons the attorney cited are accurate. If an elected official is posting on social media about government business, they are creating a public record that needs to be preserved, yes. And sure, if you're lying about people, you might become liable for defamation.

Those aren't good reasons to stay silent. Elected officials should engage with the public and their constituents and social media can be a good place to do that.

I suspect what's really going on here is something I see very frequently - a power play between administrators and elected boards. Full time administrators want to be in charge, and they hate having board members not toeing the line, speaking out about their disagreements, contacting the people directly rather than through administration. Administrators often want to rein in the elected representatives who are, in fact, their bosses.

County’s legal advisor gives guidance on social media ANTIGO -- At a meeting Monday night, Langlade County Corporation Counsel Robin Stowe gave a presentation advising county board members about social media usage.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/west/2024/06/26/wauwatosa-school-board-and-board-member-michael-meier-reach-settlement-in-open-meetings-lawsuit/74175442007/

Wauwatosa School Board reaches $132,500 settlement with board member over open meetings lawsuit The Wauwatosa School Board has settled a lawsuit brought by board member Michael Meier alleging open meetings violations by the board.

Some great long-form reporting on the new law that allows police to charge for time they spend redacting camera footage. Because apparently taxpayers paying to make the footage in the first place isn't enough.

A new Wisconsin law undermines the transparency pitch for police body cameras Act 253 contradicts open-records norms, and now it's time for law enforcement to put it to use.

An irreverent look at how long federal agencies take to fulfill FOIA requests, and what you can do while waiting.

What can you do while waiting for a FOIA response? It often takes almost a year or more to get public records from the federal government. Here are some things you can do while you wait.

https://www.wiopenrecords.com/post/wauwatosa-school-board-member-settles-meetings-case

Wauwatosa School Board Member Settles Meetings Case Six-figure settlement resolves meetings and First Amendment retaliation claimsWauwatosa School Board member Michael Meier has settled his Milwaukee County Circuit Court Wisconsin Open Meetings Law case against the Wauwatosa School Board for $132,500, according to one of his attorneys, Ben Hitchcock....

Notifying the news media and a newspaper meets some of the law’s requirements but does not satisfy it completely, Kamenick said, because a governmental body still needs to meet one of the law’s three options focused specifically on informing the public.

“They are hard requirements, and there’s a strict requirement that [a government body] follow it precisely,” Kamenick said.

SDC’s inconsistent meeting notices raise transparency concerns. Here’s what you need to know. Since suspending operations in late April, the Social Development Commission has not consistently posted public notices for its board meetings.

Authorities initially - and illegally - refused to identify this sheriff's deputy in their announcements. In 1979, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that arrest records - including the names of people arrested - are public records.

Authorities release name of deputy facing sexual exploitation charges SPENCER — Authorities have released the name and mug shot of the Clark County deputy charged with sexual crimes against children, five days after announcing the arrest itself.

Wisconsin law explicitly permits record requesters to withhold their identities and make requests anonymously. If they have to go to court to get records, they should be allowed to proceed under a pseudonym, or the right to make anonymous requests becomes meaningless.

Florida Court Rejects Pseudonymous Petition to Get Public Records From today's decision of the Florida Court of Appeal in Doe v. DeSantis, in an opinion by Judge Clayton Roberts,…

Public records showing Milwaukee waited 9 days to tell the public they had decided to cancel fireworks.

Milwaukee County leaders delayed revealing cancellation of July 3 fireworks, emails show The records, obtained by 12 News Investigates, show Milwaukee County officials waited at least a week and a half to make the announcement near the close of business on a Friday ahead of a holiday weekend.

"A decision on whether to charge an individual for a homicide in Trempealeau County could come this week as Sheriff Brett Semingson says he may never officially release the name of the victim...
Attorney James Friedman of Godfrey & Kahn, the law firm that represents the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, said the sheriff’s decision is “an unreasonable application of Marsy’s Law.”

“The public has a right to know the names of crime victims and Marsy’s Law does not say otherwise,” Friedman told the Times.

No charges yet in county homicide | Trempealeau County Times No charges yet in county homicide Tue, 06/04/2024 - 10:59am TimesEditor_Andrew By: Debbie Foss - [email protected] decision on whether to charge an individual for a homicide in Trempealeau County could come this week as Sheriff Brett Semingson says he may never officially release the...

https://isthmus.com/news/news/what-madison-police-did-to-get-in-trouble/

What Madison police did to get in trouble Newly released records, obtained through an open records request, provide details on cases where Madison police officers have been disciplined.

"Barton, 40, now faces 11 counts of identity theft, six counts of misconduct in public office and one count each of tampering with public records, theft and forgery. All of the counts are felonies."

Former Wilton clerk faces new felony charges for identity theft, public funds misuse added to ongoing case Former Village of Wilton clerk/treasurer Leigha Barton faces 20 felony charges, including identity theft, misconduct in public office, tampering with public records, theft and forgery, after being accused of stealing public funds. The charges doubled from the original 10 counts, with Barton accused....

Somebody doesn't like what we're saying

Also explained in this story - DPI is using secret panels of government teachers to help them adjust these standards, having them sign NDAs to prevent them from talking about their experiences.

Outrageous.

WILL Condemns DPI's Ridiculous Attempt to Disguise Lackluster Student Achievement | Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty WILL strongly condemns the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) for changing the terminology regarding student performance as well as once again considering changing the cut points for proficiency on the state’s Forward Exam.

"In May, a memo the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released suggested Morens inappropriately deleted records and colluded with agency officials to escape requests made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) law."

Watchdog Demands IG Investigation Into Top Fauci Deputy The non-profit government watchdog, Protect the Public's Trust, demanded the HHS inspector general probe a top Fauci advisor this week.

Government entities often hide things from each other, not just the public.

County leaders pushing to see plan for UW-Oshkosh Fox Cities file open records request Nelson says the county wants to know details about the plan UW-Oshkosh officials submitted to the Universities of Wisconsin.

Tom Kamenick joins new host Faye Parks to discuss WTP's supreme court brief asking for clarity in who has the burden of proof in records cases. Tune in to 89.9FM out of Madison during the 6:30 segment Thursday night or listen live at the link below!

Listen Live - WORT-FM 89.9 Facetime provides an inbuilt Mac OS screen sharing option . With Facetime you can easily initiate voice and video calls with other mac users. if you have problem with live […]