Backdoor legislation should be expunged
May 2, 2009: "Legislators call it the state budget bill but, judging by some of the non-budgetary flotsam and jetsam that climbs aboard it, perhaps it should more officially be known as the “Hidden Shenanigans bill.”
One of those hidden shenanigans that finally got a little light last week is a proposal by Gov. Jim Doyle to expand judges’ authority to expunge criminal convictions.
What that has to do with the state budget, we have no clue. Our guess is that neither does Doyle or the lawmakers on the Joint Finance Committee who endorsed the plan on a 9-6 vote last week." Read the full editorial here.
WI Court Asked to Rule on Release of E-Mails
April 30, 2009: "The Wisconsin Supreme Court is being asked to consider whether personal e-mails sent by public employees are subject to the state's open records law.
The case involves five employees of the Wisconsin Rapids School District. A citizen asked for e-mails they sent from their work computers over a six-week period." Read the full article here.
Attorneys in open records battle state case to Supreme Court
April 21, 2009: "To allow a collective bargaining agreement between the state and a public employee union to trump the state's open records' laws is an absolute contradiction of Wisconsin's long-held presumption of openness in government, a lawyer for The Lakeland Times and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel told the state Supreme Court last week.
The justices heard oral arguments from both sides in the case, in which the two newspapers are seeking the names of certain state employees." Read the full article here.
Editorial: State lags on open records access
April 21, 2009: "Elected officials and people who are running for those offices routinely file statements of economic interest, which are designed to ensure they don't have conflicts of interest or are in a position to use their public offices for private gain.
In 42 states any citizen can read those statements, no questions asked. In Wisconsin, you have to identify yourself — and the state will then send a notice to the official or candidate to let them know you saw the information." Read the full article here.
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