When Madison Metropolitan School District communications director Tim LeMonds sued his employer in March to block release of a complaint against him, he claimed there would be grave repercussions if the public were allowed to see the allegations it contained.
Author Archives: Jonathan Anderson
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Wisconsin AG candidates weigh in on transparency
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.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: State should name schools with COVID-19 cases
The state’s refusal to identify specific schools with COVID-19 cases suggests a pernicious problem: that officials don’t trust parents and students to have easy public access to information that could put schools or administrators in a negative light.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Lawmakers use costs to rebuff records requests
In May, as the state Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget committee considered a plan to spend far less on education than what Democrat Gov. Tony Evers proposed, Sheila Plotkin started filing public records requests.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Lawmakers should keep promise on transparency
A week after Republicans in the state Legislature voted to gut the public records law in 2015, members of the Assembly sought to quell backlash over the plan. A resolution that passed 96-1 affirms that the Assembly “remains committed to our state’s open record and open government laws and policies, and will take all necessary […]
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: AG’s office could do more on openness
Should enforcement of Wisconsin’s open records and open meetings laws depend on individual citizens having to file often costly and protracted lawsuits? That is one option prescribed under these laws, and those who prevail in such cases can recover attorney’s fees. But the laws also contain provisions intended to help people resolve disputes in a cheaper and less complicated way: Citizens can ask the state attorney general or county district attorney to sue a government authority, and any person can seek advice from the attorney general.