Gov Walker needs to provide answers to attack on open records

What did he know, and when did he know it? The answers to those questions remain elusive. But we need to hear the answers from Scott Walker. We need to know just what involvement the state’s most powerful politician had in trying to get around Wisconsin’s open records laws. 12 members of the Joint Finance Committee voted, literally in the middle of the night heading into a holiday weekend, language which would have shielded state lawmakers from complying with open records laws. Any communication with their staff would be kept secret, as would their contacts with constituents. Drafts of bills now a matter of public record would have been off limits. Even communications from local school boards would have been kept private. But not one of the 12 who brazenly voted to gut the open records laws is saying who was behind it. It has been confirmed Governor Walker’s office was involved, but no one is saying to what degree. But it is clear our Governor has a problem with open records, as he has refused to comply with a request to provide records related to his efforts to rewrite the Wisconsin Idea, the university system’s mission statement. We need to hear directly from Governor Walker just what his role was in this misdirected effort to keep us from keeping tabs on our politicians. The public deserves answers. And we deserve politicians interested in increasing government transparency, not limiting it.