Dick Wheeler, the late founder of the Wheeler Report, has been named the 2012 recipient of the Distinguished Wisconsin Watchdog Award in recognition of his four decades of tirelessly opening Wisconsin state government to public scrutiny.

The award is part of the second annual Wisconsin Watchdog Awards reception and dinner, presented jointly on Wednesday, April 25, by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and the Madison Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Walt Bogdanich, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, will deliver the keynote address at the second annual Wisconsin Watchdog Awards on April 25.

On issues of government openness, Gov. Scott Walker’s record has been mixed. He is not running the most open administration in history, as he pledged in an interview late last year, but he’s certainly not in a bunker.

Dave Zweifel, editor emeritus of The Capital Times, will be honored April 20 at the first Wisconsin Watchdog Awards reception and dinner, presented jointly by the nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.

Next week is Sunshine Week — time to celebrate open government in Wisconsin. A guest column by Mark Pitsch, assistant city editor at the Wisconsin State Journal and a member of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.

A state website operating since 2007 is supposed to be informing citizens how state government spends some of their taxpayer dollars by disclosing information on state contracts worth $10,000 or more. But it’s not happening.

Every action that sanctions official secrecy creates opportunities for abuse.

The unleashed power of the Internet has given the public unprecedented access to information, and there is no way to put the genie back in the bottle.