Capitol Report
By State Representative, Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
After spending four weeks lollygagging and delaying the budget process, Joint Committee on Finance finally reconvened last week to finish off the remaining loose ends.
There had been a number of sticking points (i.e., transportation, Bucks arena and prevailing wage), but a last minute agreement brokered by the GOP leadership broke impasse.
However, before the bill was exced out of committee, the committee co-chairs (Sen. Alberta Darling and Rep. John Nygren) slipped a highly contentious provision into the budget that would have drastically changed the state’s open records law.
More specifically, the GOP plan was designed to do the following:
• Gives law makers a broad legal privilege that would allow them to refrain from releasing records when they are sued and bar their current and former staff from disclosing information legislators wanted kept private.
• Creates a new exemption to the open records law allowing officials to withhold “deliberative materials” – that is, records that show how they came to reach their decision.
• Limits public records requests for lawmakers’ communications with their staffs and for drafting records of legislation after it was introduced.
• Exempts a host of records created by Walker’s administration, state agencies and local governments and put new limits on public access to information about dismissed criminal charges in some instances.
The public’s reaction to gutting the open records law was swift and unequivocal: NO! Liberals and conservatives, alike, voiced their mutual disdain and asserted that the change would lead to a secretive government hidden from public oversight.
Interestingly enough, but not surprising, Scott Walker is currently being sued for refusing to release such records related his proposal to alter the University of Wisconsin System’s mission statement to eliminate the Wisconsin Idea.
Moreover, it’s now come to light that Walker’s office actually pushed for these draconian changes to the open records law.
Granted, the GOP finally had to abandon its blatant attempt to gut the open records law.
But, that begs the obvious question: Why?! Let’s keep it real: The WEDC scandal is an Achilles’ heel for Scott Walker and his presidential aspirations. God only knows what else he wishes to conceal.