Another case of “Trust us we’re the government”

Politicians spend a lot of time making laws. They are, after all, called lawmakers. But while Wisconsin’s elected officials are, like other politicians, good at making laws, they are also good at exempting themselves from those laws. The latest example is a decision by both democratic and republican leaders of the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate to keep secret allegations of sexual harassment made against their fellow lawmakers. They are refusing to release any sexual misconduct complaints filed against our elected officials. It probably should not be a surprise that our politicians in Madison are telling us what is good for the goose isn’t necessarily good for the gander. Consider that our legislators are not required to hold meetings in public, even though the state open meetings laws apply to every other government body. Every school district or municipal government must conduct its business in the public eye, but not the legislature which created the law. They also don’t have to post meeting notices informing the public of their meeting plans. And while members of the legislature are covered by the state’s open records laws, unlike other politicians, they can legally destroy their own records whenever they want. Deciding to keep secret from voters complaints of sexual misconduct from lawmakers seems to be yet another case of the politicians saying “Trust us, we’re the government.”