Taxpayers to pay legal fees for lawmaker in records case
Organization wanted electronic record copies
MADISON - Taxpayers will pay about $2,000 in legal fees for a Democratic lawmaker who tried to charge a conservative group thousands of dollars for copies of his emails that it sought under the state’s open records law.
State Rep. Jonathan Brostoff (D-Milwaukee) told a researcher with the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty last year that he would have to pay $3,240 for printed copies of thousands of pages of Brostoff ’s emails, even though the researcher asked for them electronically.
WILL sued in February, arguing Brostoff was obligated to provide the records electronically for a lower cost. The group and Brostoff said Wednesday they reached a settlement in which Brostoff would provide the records electronically and the state would cover WILL’s legal fees, just under $2,000.
Brostoff said he was following staff advice and believed he could charge WILL for paper copies, but decided it was best to resolve the lawsuit quickly to limit the costs for taxpayers.
“After looking at it again, I just decided this was the better route,” Brostoff said.
The issue of whether public officials must release documents in electronic format rather than on paper remains unresolved.
In January, a Dane County judge ruled Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) must make available electronic copies of records that were sought by Bill Lueders, the president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and the managing editor of The Progressive magazine.
GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel appealed that decision in March. That appeal could set a statewide precedent that would say whether and when the government has to provide records electronically — a format that is much cheaper and usually easily searchable.
Schimel also represented Brostoff. Schimel spokesman Johnny Koremenos did not say why the attorney general agreed to release electronic records in Brostoff ’s case but not in Krug’s.
“In the Krug case, I hope the Court of Appeals adopts a common-sense interpretation of the statute that serves the interest of open government and the efficient use of public resources,” said Tom Kamenick, deputy counsel at WILL. “It defies common sense —and the law — for the Legislature to waste taxpayer resources by printing out electronic records that could cheaply and quickly be provided via email, file sharing website or CD.”
In the Brostoff case, WILL researcher Collin Roth was seeking emails related to occupational licensing, an area of regulation that the institute has been seeking to overhaul.
Brostoff said when the lawsuit was filed that he was following the advice of Assembly Chief Clerk Patrick Fuller in responding to the records request. He said he decided to resolve the issue quickly through a settlement, but he expected he and WILL would clash over policy differences in the future.