Wisconsin transparency headlines
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from Wisconsin.
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UWM Student Paper Sues University for Records
Milwaukee, WI On Wednesday, November 11, 2009, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee student newspaper filed a lawsuit in district court, alleging that the University's redaction of student names from Union Policy Board meeting minutes and audio files constituted a violation of the Wisconsin Open Records Law. The newspaper had requested all the agenda's, meeting minutes and audio recordings of the meetings back to August 1, 2008. The University released all of the requested documents, but heavily redacted the information to remove student information which, they argue, is exempt under Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act(FERPA). The newspaper seeks the full documents and legal fees [1]
Wisconsin Supreme Court to Determine if Teacher's Private Emails Subject to Records Requests
Madison, Wisconsin On Tuesday, November 10, 2009 the Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that could affect records requests for emails across the state. The case came about as a result of a records request in April of 2007 by Don Bubolz for all emails, both personal and professional, sent to and from five teachers from March 1 to April 13, 2007. [2]
Listen to the oral arguments live at Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, "Listen to WRPS State Supreme Court case live online Tuesday"
Open records request leads to hefty settlement against a state senator
Madison, Wisconsin: Because of information found on staffers' personal emails, state senator Dan Kapanke R-La Crosse, was ordered on September 11 to pay a fine in the amount of $100 for misallocating funds.[3] The settlement added $38,000 in legal fees to be paid by Kapanke to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, and it will be paid by the Department of Administration's risk management fund. Kapanke will personally pay the $100 fine.[4]
The settlement in Dane County Circuit Court is a result of a public records request about an economic forum Kapanke held in June, 2009 that was originally intended to be sponsored by Kapanke's office, but ended up being paid for by campaign funds. The Government Accountability Board had ruled that one of Kapanke's staffers failed to request vacation time to work at the event.[4] June 3 and June 8 emails referring to the forum were requested by the DPW who suspected that the event was campaign related. Kapanke's office responded to the order of the WGAB, claiming the emails did not exist. Further investigation by the Legislative Technology Services Bureau did find an email listing the event in Kapanke's chief of staff's personal email account.
Wausau Teachers' Emails are Public Records
In Wausau, WI, an open records request was made to release the texts of emails of five teachers. The citizen who filed the request, was concerned about the conduct of teachers in the local school district. [5]
Wisconsin Judicial Integrity Campaign Committee open record (2008)
In February of 2008, the Wisconsin chapter of Club for Growth performed an open records request on the State of Wisconsin Judicial Integrity Campaign Committee, a nonpartisan project created by the State Bar of Wisconsin. The request obtained emails of the eight members of the Wisconsin Judicial Integrity Campaign Committee, over an ethics discussion of the Wisconsin Supreme Court Race (2008) was accused by Wisconsin Club for Growth as a "blatant attempt to railroad the campaign for the conservative pick." [6]
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