By Jonathan Anderson, Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council A week after Republicans in the state Legislature voted to gut the public records law in 2015, members of the Assembly sought to quell backlash over the plan. A resolution that passed 96-1 affirms that the Assembly “remains committed to our state’s open record and open government […]
Barland calls Legislature’s actions abolishing the GAB “a public lynching”
By David Gordon, associate editor Chippewa Valley Post The state Legislature’s decision to do away with Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board (GAB) is nothing other than “a public lynching,” in the opinion of Judge Thomas Barland. Barland, a retired Eau Claire County Circuit Court Judge and a six-year member of the GAB, strongly criticized the Legislature’s action […]
Open records law safe for now, but controversy still not over
By Dee J. Hall Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism A review by reporters for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism of the 60 pages of drafting notes associated with sweeping changes to the state’s open-records law offered no clues about who initiated the proposals. But the WCIJ reporters found that the initials and partial names […]