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.
Category: Opinion
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Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Fee recovery is key to transparency
Many states, including Wisconsin, have public records laws. But that doesn’t mean requesters always get the records they seek, or even that the laws are followed.
What provisions in a state’s laws are most associated with compliance?
Posted inOpinion
Opinion: Kewaunee County water study looks backward, not forward
News stories about a recent groundwater study are causing unfounded concerns about people getting sick from farming practices in Kewaunee County.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Lawmakers seek to keep their misconduct secret
Staush Gruszynski, a former state Assembly representative from Green Bay, is the subject of an ongoing legal battle over records regarding his sexual harassment of a female staffer.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: No private email accounts for public business
Shockingly, in Wisconsin it’s perfectly legal for government officials to use their personal emails to do government work. Even though a government entity may have no ability to access personal accounts and even though it’s ridiculously easy to use personal emails to hide conversations from the public, these practices are still allowed.
Posted inOpinion
Opinion: Wisconsin regulators should reject Crawford County pig CAFO
A Steuben, Wisconsin resident writes that she is devastated that the Wisconsin DNR conditionally approved plans for Roth Feeder Pig to expand into a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO).
Posted inOpinion
Opinion: Bar lawmakers from destroying records
At the heart of Wisconsin’s government transparency laws is a presumption of openness — that “all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those officers and employees who represent them.”
Posted inOpinion
Opinion: Long-unreported pipeline leak should be a wakeup call for Wisconsin
Guest author Peter Truitt argues in this Opinion piece that the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline should be halted because of high health and environmental risks.
Posted inOpinion
Officials use digital dodges to hide records
The disturbing trend toward using digital dodges to evade Wisconsin’s Open Records Law extends far beyond the university.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Record location fees invite abuses
A member of the public or representative of the press will file a request under Wisconsin’s open records law, which applies to all state and local government entities. But instead of records, the requester gets a bill.
Posted inOpinion
The ‘Opees’ in the age of COVID-19
For the 15th consecutive year, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is presenting its Openness in Government Awards, or Opees, recognizing outstanding achievement in the cause of transparency. Several of this years’ awards are related to the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced wholesale changes in how government officials conduct the public’s business. All are predicated on upholding the public’s right to know.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: State needs a more open redistricting process
Wisconsin lawmakers will soon begin redrawing congressional and state voting boundaries, in accordance with the latest Census. It’s a good time to reflect on how that process has played out before — and for the public to demand greater transparency this time around.