WisconsinWatch.org (https://www.wisconsinwatch.org/tag/your-right-to-know/)
Early on in the pandemic, the Wisconsin Department of Justice laid out guidance for making sure virtual meetings comply with the state’s Open Meetings Law. There are some public bodies who do a phenomenal job, but there’s still much more that can and should be done.
Last January, a person involved in local emergency management asked the Office of Open Government whether emergency preparedness coalitions run by the Wisconsin DHS are subject to the state’s open meetings and open records laws. The answer is yes — but arriving at this answer took nearly a year, which should not have happened.
In late October, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections finally disclosed the number of COVID-19 deaths among people incarcerated in state prisons. But this disclosure came only after months of delays and cover ups — and the DOC is still trying to hide information about the epidemic.
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.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that many of our jobs can be done digitally and remotely. The same thing could — and should — be done with records maintained by state and local governments.
Wisconsin citizens are getting the “You can’t handle the truth” treatment from some officials over information related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The police killings of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks and Breonna Taylor, among others, as well as video footage of police using excessive force in dealing with protesters, have underscored the need for changes in policing, including greater access to disciplinary records.
It is time to break down some of the barriers that prevent the public from getting a full and true picture of how police perform — sometimes laudable, sometimes not — and how government agencies respond to allegations of misconduct.
In March, as Wisconsin enacted Safer at Home, state and local governments scrambled to build new ways to govern from remote locations while still complying with our open meeting laws. Even in the age of COVID-19, we still have the right to watch public bodies in action.
Donald Trump says it’s just not fair. The president, through his campaign, is suing television station WJFW-TV in Rhinelander for airing a political ad that allegedly defamed him.
Believe it or not, this has been a relatively quiet time on the open government front. In my role with the WFOIC, I often field calls from reporters and citizens regarding the problems they are experiencing getting access to public meetings and records.
During the hectic legislative session in February, one thing got lost: the public’s ability to participate fully in the process. That’s because the public wasn’t given adequate notice of some public hearings.
As founder of We the Irrelevant, a website that tracks how well (or poorly) the actions of legislators match up with what the public has asked them to do, I have sent multiple open records requests to Wisconsin legislators on a variety of controversial initiatives. Each time, I’ve asked them for related citizen correspondence.