Open records law essential
Government is a double-edged sword. It can be very helpful to people and in some cases can be detrimental. It’s always dangerous when one party has control of state government, as is the case today in Wisconsin.
The Republican Party has control of our state Legislature and introduced changes to Wisconsin’s open records law that would have limited the ability of average citizens and the news media to check up on what legislators are doing in Madison. Legislators are influenced by money; donations from individuals, businesses and special interest groups.
Right now, we have the ability to find out who’s doing what in Madison, because there’s usually a paper trail. The Republican Party introduced changes to the open records law that would have made investigating legislators and government officials far more difficult. They wanted to tie the hands of the news media so they couldn’t find and ferret out unlawful practices.
The open records law is paramount to having a clean and righteous government. Changing the law to prevent reviewing what’s going on by legislators in Madison is a recipe for a corrupt government.
We have some very fine legislators in our state government, and some bad guys. If we restrict the news media’s ability to check up on politicians, we will never be able to discover who the bad guys are. I want the unethical politicians brought to the public’s attention.
Because of concern by Wisconsin citizens, it appears that the proposed changes to the open records law have now been removed from the state budget. Trust, but verify. John J. Mutter Jr.
Shawano
Attack on open government
Twelve Republicans on the Joint Committee on Finance voted to severely limit our access to public records. Attorney General Brad Schimel was correct in describing the Republican leadership’s action as an “attack on open and transparent government.”
By making secret virtually all communications between lawmakers and large donors and other special interests, the governor and the Republican leadership could more freely represent the wealthy and powerful interests who fund them. Gary Moseson
DeForest
Thanks for alerting public
Thanks to reporter Patrick Marley, and the rest of the Journal Sentinel staff for alerting the public in the 4th of July edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to the after-hours attempt by the legislative leadership to add provisions into the state budget to sharply limit public records requests and drafting records of legislation.
I was just one of the many voters who responded by emailing my elected representatives (Rep. Janel Brandtjen and Sen. Alberta Darling), as well as posting on Gov. Scott Walker’s website my strong opposition to this attempt to gut the state’s open records law.
As an independent voter, I want Wisconsin to remain a state with an open, honest, government with access for all its citizens. James A. Brundage
Menomonee Falls
Kudos to Journal Sentinel
Regarding the July 5 article “Open records changes dropped,” kudos to the Journal Sentinel for a textbook example of the power of the press and the signal importance of the journalistic profession. Many contributed to the hasty Republican retreat from Justice Louis Brandeis’ belief that “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” The Journal Sentinel, however, was the forceful leader in this inspiring citizens’ revolt.
How good it would be if this paper would now turn similarly powerful attention to the perennial orphans of Milwaukee’s conscience: those African-American children, men and women caught in the poverty and social neglect that continues to afflict our inner core. Daniel C. Maguire
Milwaukee