Exposed!!! Republicans ignore constituent feedback, big surprise.

That gut feel we had about Republicans not listening to voters...as it turns out, we were right.

We've seen it time and time again, where local and national polls tell us what Americans really want, and it doesn't look anything like the GOP agenda.  

And while most conservatives vote Republican because of one or two fabricated issues, the dramatic downside is never enough to change their vote.

All of this is explained in one of the best exposes yet, thanks to We-the-irrelevant.org's freedom of information request.



Many GOP defenders in the comments section following the story are quick to mention the “silent majority” of voters who didn’t actively call their representatives. But that's not proof is it? Great stuff. LaCrosse Tribune:

List date Jan. 21, 2016

The Wisconsin Legislature recently passed bills to allow dramatically increased campaign contributions (“campaign finance reform”) and to dismantle the Government Accountability Board in the face of overwhelming public objection.

Retiree Sheila Plotkin of McFarland, Wis., (and her ) web site we-the-irrelevant.org sent open-records requests to Republican state senators and assemblymen to tally public input that each had received prior to voting. 

In total, 817 people (99 percent of those who contacted their legislators) were opposed to campaign finance reform, while only nine (1 percent) were in favor. Republican legislators nevertheless voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill.

With regard to dismantling the GAB, 1,501 constituents (90 percent of those commenting) urged their legislators not to dismantle the GAB, while only 173 (10 percent) were in favor. Republicans nevertheless voted to dismantle the GAB.

Who are the Republicans representing? To check the input that your legislator received and compare it with their vote, check out Plotkin’s site. 

Rep. Kathy Bernier is one big offender. Interesting to note; nowhere at her official site does she mention her party affiliation. Embarrassed?

Power hungry Vos wants secretive, unaccountable one party Rule, no matter what the people want!

Bad ideas don't die in the legislature, they live on and get passed in secret by arrogant majority Republicans who keep grabbing for more and more power. 

Which immediately brings to mind Republican Assembly leader Robin Vos. Public opinion and the Fourth Estate be damned when it comes to being accountable to the voters. Republicans are redefining and expanding on the idea that power corrupts.

Conservative voters really have to start taking notice, and soon. jsonline:

Just weeks after being forced to retreat from wholesale reductions to Wisconsin's open records law, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos put his aides back to work on elements of the same controversial proposal, new documents show.

The records released Tuesday by the liberal Center on Media and Democracy in Madison showed that an aide to Vos requested a new legislative draft on July 23, seeking a bill to give the Legislature a different status on open records from other government bodies in Wisconsin.

Give Vos credit for creativity coming up with an idea that boggles the mind:

Under the proposal, lawmakers could change the open records rules applying to them with a public vote but without the necessity of a public hearing or approval of the governor. That's because going forward legislators would only have to change their own rules to change their open records requirements rather than change state law, which is currently the case.

AG Schimel confused, thinks Emails, Skype and Texting to modern for open records.

Well, isn't this a surprise twist in reality: Republicans have decided to use the advances of information technology, to hold back...information?

Yes, it's opposite day everyday in Republican world. In an age where paper and pencils have been replaced with electronic zeros and ones, information is now too confusing to the average legislator. Is it still information if it's in this odd and almost magical digital voodoo. WPR:

Attorney General Brad Schimel said Wisconsin's outdated open records laws were last revised in 1981, before the Internet, email, text messaging and other modern forms of communication were used within government’s halls. Because of that, said Schimel, there are a lot of unresolved questions about what forms of communication are subject to the laws.

"We don't know whether a town board member can appear in a meeting via Skype or not. We don’t know the extent to which emails and text messages are all public records or not. There are real issues to debate about to what extent those are, or should be, public records."

There's a debate? Well if we fabricate a debate I guess there would be one. Wouldn't you know it Schimel, the guy who came out so strongly against Scott Walker's sneaky plan to change our open records laws...

"Transparency is the cornerstone of democracy and the provisions in the Budget Bill limiting access to public records move Wisconsin in the wrong direction,"

  ...is now rationalizing away any opposition he had.

Schimel Says He Understands Why Some Lawmakers Proposed Open Records Changes - Attorney General Will Host Summit Wednesday On What Records Should Be Accessible To Public: Schimel was among the officials who voiced opposition to the changes, saying that they moved the state "in the wrong direction." 

However, he emphasized Tuesday that he sympathizes with officials, "I think there’s a legitimate argument to be made that, say, the governor and his chief legal counsel are going back and forth with each other over what the final document should look like. I think you could make a legitimate argument that that’s a draft," said Schimel ... So why not consider the possibility that we just want to honestly let people within a particular government office share drafts back and forth until you produce what you're prepared to call a record for the public?" 

So Wisconsinites should wait until an legislator is "prepared to call a record...for the public," whenever that might be. Schimel really thinks we'll buy that?

You might remember back on June 1^st, Schimel stood on his carnival barker podium and declared:

AG is creating an Office of Open Government to help the public obtain government records more quickly and consistently ... Also ... provide consistent and prompt advice ... noting the presumption of openness in Wisconsin law. "We shouldn't be looking for things we can deny" to the public, Schimel said. "We should be looking for what we must deny."

But the neo-fascist "Stand with Walker" Borg-like followers don't mind being taken care of by dictatorial leaders who do the thinking for them. Check out this back-and-forth in the comments:

1848: Just keep it on the yellow pads and verbal. Problem solved. It's not worth listening to the liberals whine about this.

Joe_Thomas_WI to 1848: Loss of transparency isn't a liberal issue. The idea of hiding information from the people who own it is egregious at best. If they can't take the criticism that comes with transparency they should't be in elected office.

Derik  Joe_Thomas_WI: As a public employee I could construe Joe Thomas' comments to imply that insofar as my work is partly an extension of myself, 'the public' owns me … the way these law are generally enforced shows that this is just a gotcha political tool… 

Dan Wilson: "We don't know whether a town board member can appear via skype or not." Uh, yeah we do and secondly that is not an open records issue unless we are thinking of tampering with the open meetings law as well. This wasn't an issue when democrats were in charge.

With Open Records, Walker hopes to confuse Wisconsinites.

Credit the Journal Sentinel for showing us how truly hypocritical Scott Walker is on the issue of open records, the underpinnings of a free and open government, answerable to the people. This opneing paragraph sums it up. jsonline:

State documents show Gov. Scott Walker's administration contends it doesn't have to release some internal discussions on four key issues even though the White House hopeful has said trying to rewrite the open records law to allow holding back documents in such cases was a "huge mistake."

Walker can have it both ways, because he knows people will only remember what they like about him.

Who else would even begin to buy into the Walker's way of thinking?

"Making these internal discussions just as open to disclosure as the final version of the budget would inhibit the free exchange of ideas, opinions, proposals and recommendations among those involved in deciding what to include in the final legislation."

It's anybodies guess how far we’ve burrowed into a comfortable Republican neo-fascist hole.

No other state provides such an expansive legal privilege for lawmakers, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau.

It is encouraging to see some voter blowback by stunned conservatives who happen to be paying attention:

"I am not a liberal by any stretch of the imagination," Jim Stroschein of Mineral Point wrote to Fitzgerald in an email sent on July 4. "I voted for Ronald Reagan twice and Tommy Thompson four times. Your attempts to limit access to public records are deeply disappointing and the Joint Finance Committee's vote ... qualifies as the most disturbing action I have ever seen in Wisconsin politics."

Tom Varney wrote Rep. Amy Loudenbeck (R-Clinton) on July 4 to express his frustration that she had voted for the measure in committee in the middle of the night just before the holiday. "You don't deserve to celebrate our freedom when you're working hard to take it away," he wrote. 

Surprise!!! Scott Walker now had nothing to do with the now publicly scorned Open Records Changes made so close to his run for president!!!

As we all know, Scott Walker admitted his involvement in the legislatures jaw dropping attempt completely curtail the open records law. The fact that the GOP's plan coincidentally mirrored Walker's own reasons to deny open record requests made his involvement ridiculously obvious. 

Here's audio from Wisconsin Watch's Bill Leuders featuring Scott Walker himself admitting his involvement. Warning, this is a word salad non-answer like no other:

Of course the story has changed, and as usual, Walker found someone else to blame. 

WSJ: Gov. Scott Walker pointed the finger at Republican lawmakers Friday on a widely criticized proposal to curtail Wisconsin's open records laws, calling it "a huge mistake" that didn't originate in his office. 

"I think it was a mistake to even think about it in the budget, even though it didn't come from us," Walker told radio host Charlie Sykes on Friday morning. That was brought to us by the Legislature and they said they wanted to look at it and wanted our input."

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Tuesday that Walker’s office collaborated with Assembly and Senate leaders to draft the changes.

Here's WKOW's great coverage of this continuing fiasco:



It's not partisan politics to point out how Scott Walker has never taken the blame for anything. This is his M.O. and we will see so much more of it during his presidential campaign.

Blind loyalty and obedience to one Authority renders Open Records unnecessary.

What's the difference...constituents, big business, special interests, money, freedom, money, liberty, monied constituents...

Trust but don't verify...?

Walker & GOP still plan to kill Open Records Law!!! But "it would be difficult to revisit this issue in the environment we're in right now."

The frightening realization that Scott Walker and GOP leaders still intend to do away with the open records law is, as State Sen. Jon Erpenbach said "mind-boggling,"

Walker's unapologetic admission that he and Republicans wanted to deep six Wisconsin's open records law seems very odd for a guy hoping to become presidential. Especially after he's told the media that Wisconsin's reforms should be a template for the rest of the nation.  Sen. Scott Fitzgerald thought the changes "made sense." Journal Sentinel:

Gov. Scott Walker acknowledged Tuesday his office helped develop plans to dramatically roll back the state's open records law ... which has since been abandoned.

Walker and his aides had repeatedly evaded saying whether they helped ... "We tried to put something together we thought that made sense," Fitzgerald told them. "But it's not going to be accepted publicly and that's why we're here pulling it back today."

But Fitzgerald went even further down the rabbit hole with the following jaw dropping reason why he thought change was needed. WISC:

Fitzgerald: "Technology has changed. The way we handle our offices has changed. And if we don't continue to embrace idea that we should be doing something on this. Than I'm not sure where we'll end up on this." 

Erpenbach: "The audacity for you to close government down like that is ridiculous...mind-boggling...MIND-BOGGLING! I will defend every single reporters right to sue me."

Just as shocking was Fitzgerald's plans to try again, even after the media, Democrats, Republicans, conservative think tanks and talk show hosts all bashed the idea of a secret unaccountable government. But it's an old law....

Fitzgerald said he hopes to consider changes to the open records law in the future, but that lawmakers can't now because of the public response to the plan the committee passed last week.

"Certainly, it would be difficult to revisit this issue in the environment we're in right now," he said on the Senate floor. "Obviously, it's very hot."

Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) said the plan never should have been advance in the first place.

"This doesn't make you heroes — at all, This vote doesn't take away what happened last Thursday night.

Talker Belling says Walker's Open Records backtracking "deserves some praise...there isn't any actual damage done!!!"

The Scott Walker/Republican open records fiasco wasn't just bizarre and a gift to the Democratic Party, but it was also the playable trump card against what many see as big government authoritarian takeover of Wisconsin. They would be crazy to try this again, right? But it was a natural next step for the super majority party; establishing a secret and unaccountable government.

It wasn't a misstep either, since Walker and the legislature are blissfully content to send this to a committee, as if talking it over and changing a few words will make the idea any less outrageous.

But if radio host Mark Belling's message to "Stand with Walker" supporters is any indication, "no damage done" will be the acceptable response.

Republican Rep. Dale Kayenga actually called political star maker Belling, and apologized. And you might like this: Belling blamed all of this on a bumbling inexperienced Republican Party not used to being in complete power:

Belling: "So in the end nothing is going to happen...the Republican leadership deserves some praise for understanding they were doing something unbelievably stupid...One of the ramifications of being in power, and this is admittedly new for Republicans, they haven't had total control of anything prior to the last several years here...in the end the Republican leadership and Governor Walker who did a 180 and backed off something the wanted to do, should be praised for listening...and given the fact that everything is now essentially dropped...there isn't any actual damage done!!!

Not exactly an acceptable rescue attempt. "On Milwaukee's" Jessica McBride was a whole lot less charitable, despite having been a supporter of Act 10, school choice, abortion, and concealed carry. She spewed a slew of questions, good questions that should be answered in detail soon:

The Republicans in the legislature and Gov. Walker should announce, "This is wrong. It will not happen." And that’s what they have not done. 

The open records assault accomplished the unthinkable in Walker’s Wisconsin: It united left and right. Who pushed for this? Whose idea was this? And why will no one say?

It’s rather ironic, is it not, that legislators are being so secretive about a measure designed to legalize more secrecy? Is it true, as one Democrat claimed, that Walker or his staff made it clear to the Republicans on the JFC that he would not veto the measures? Walker, when asked this question by the media, did not give a straight answer: "Again, those are all things we'll talk about on Monday. We'll talk about what we're doing going forward." This is mind-boggling in its obfuscation. Every single Republican on the JFC voted for it.

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism has also noted similarities between Walker’s office and the state Department of Administration citing "deliberative process" arguments when denying recent open records requests … This sets up the possibility that the changes were made to shield Walker from his own bad proposals as his presidential campaign gears up.  

Why did the measure push the start date of the changes back to July 1, rather than the day the bill would actually become law? Was the retroactive start date created so the public and media wouldn’t be able to figure out who pushed for this? Why did no one run on this, inform the public of it in advance or solicit public opinion on it in advance of the JFC vote? 

Why the sneak attack? It’s becoming a pattern. Republicans surprise the electorate with things no one ran on. How is this not "big government"? How was this a "fiscal matter" that ever belonged in the budget? 

By voting to put the deliberative process outside public scrutiny, wasn’t the legislature acknowledging that the deliberative process falls under open records law disclosure right now? Otherwise, why was the vote needed? Since this is being pulled from the budget, Gov. Walker’s administration will promptly release those records and comply with existing open records laws ... right? What the heck were they thinking? 

I liked this suggested question in the comments:

Question 12. Who spoke up in May when Walker first claimed the "deliberative" exemption? Was it MacIver, WILL, and Schimel? It was a first for an executive to try it; the courts have struck down school boards and cities who tried that excuse. 

Walker and GOP Heroes? The Assault on Open Records, they passed, suddenly pulled...for now.

Don't be deceived or believe for one moment this issue is off the table, even after reading this headline:

"Scott Walker, legislative leaders drop open records changes" - Wisconsin State Journal

Think about it. The entire repeal/change of the open records law may be scrubbed right now, but for some unknown reason needs to be debated even more. Like there's a nuance in all of this that most of us are missing?

To the rescue...?

In the face of withering criticism, Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican leaders of the Legislature announced Saturday that provisions added to the state budget to slash the state’s open records law “will be removed from the budget in its entirety” … the Legislature will form a Legislative Council committee to study the issue outside of the budget process.

Let's not forget who thought this was a great idea:

Twelve Republican lawmakers on the budget committee approved the omnibus measure Thursday, while all four of the panel's Democratic members opposed it. Republicans refused to say who initiated the measures and the reasoning for it. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald supported the changes. GOP Rep. Dean Knudson of Hudson said the changes clarify what is a record for lawmakers and would “make it easier for us all to stay on the right side (of the laws).”

The picture to the right is just a sample of the reaction most people had. But I thought the following comment in the Lakeland Times editorial "Our View: The Wisconsin Republican Party: Corruption, cronyism, and sleaze," was priceless:

"For those who live in a cave — and we all will be if the Republicans get their way — the majority members of the Joint Finance Committee voted for a surprise motion Thursday night...."

Here's WPT's Here and Now with reporter Shawn Johnson playing back a few clips from Republican Rep. Dan Knudson and a fed up Sen. Jon Erpenbach:



And yet the changes to open records appeared similar to what many in the media have seen out of Scott Walker's office, to keep his information secret:

Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s office declined to say whether the governor himself was behind the original measure.

A review by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism shows similarities between recent records request denials from the governor’s office and the state Department of Administration and changes inserted in the budget Thursday by Republican leaders — similarities that raise questions about whether Walker himself was involved in the budget proposal.

The Center also found Walker and DOA invoked a deliberative process argument in denying requests for records documenting the proposed removal of the Wisconsin Idea and the “search for truth” from the University of Wisconsin’s mission statement. Two parties that sued Walker for records over that issue say they detect the governor’s fingerprints in the proposal.

Christa Westerberg, vice president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, noted similarities between Walker’s invocation of a deliberative process exemption in recent months and the proposal in the “Motion 999” amendment to the state budget passed Thursday. “When the administration attempted this exemption this spring, it was really an unprecedented attempt to conceal decision making documents about important issues in the budget. “It’s fair to ask, did the governor request this language in Motion 999? And if so, why?”

Open Records Law Gone? Walker's One Party Republicans Authoritarian Government will now Dictate Law.

Thursday saw an explosion of critical tweets from liberals, libertarians, and even "stand with Walker" kooks that haven't seen a GOP bill they didn't like, reacting to a move to shut Wisconsinites and the media out of state government and the peoples right to know. All under the guise of a very tight budget, or so said Sen. Alberta Darling, who "inherited" her own previous budget (old talking points die hard):

Republicans decided to shutout the public's right know anything. Breathtaking beyond words, this last minute budget twist also protects Walker's past as well. WSJ

The proposal blocks the public from reviewing nearly all records created by lawmakers, state and local officials or their aides, including electronic communications and the drafting files of legislation. Exempt “deliberative materials” from the public’s view … Deliberative materials are defined in the motion as “communications and other materials, including opinions, analyses, briefings, background information, recommendations, suggestions, drafts, correspondence about drafts, and notes, created or prepared in the process of reaching a decision concerning a policy or course of action” or in preparing a draft of a document.

If you thought that was bad, legislators made sure what happened to Sen. Lea Vukmir wouldn't happen to them. Remember this jaw dropper from September 2013?

jsonline: State Sen. Leah Vukmir is trying to sidestep an open records lawsuit by claiming she can't be sued while in office — a legal argument that, if successful, would let all lawmakers ignore the open records law.Vukmir contends in her motion that the legislative session lasts the entire term of a state representative — meaning legislators are in session from the moment they are first elected until they leave office, perhaps many years later. The Center for Media and Democracy sued Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) in June contending she had violated the open records law by not turning over records related to her involvement with the American Legislative Exchange Council-ALEC.

That won't be a problem anymore:

The motion also gives a legislator a “legal privilege” or right to refuse to disclose and to prevent a current or former staff member from disclosing a wide array of types of communication that occurred during the lawmaker’s term in office.

Summing it up in the absolute strongest terms...:

"This is the single most sweeping and outrageous affront to Wisconsin’s tradition of open government that I have seen in my quarter-century of involvement with the (Wisconsin) Freedom of Information Council,” council president Bill Lueders said. “If Wisconsin wants to take a giant leap into corruption, I think that’s a good move for them to make,” Lueders said. “It’s cowardly. It’s dirty. It violates the tradition of the state of Wisconsin, and it shows what miserable cowards that these people are that they would stick this in an omnibus motion.”

Of course Republican and now state Attorney General Brad Schimel, made open government a big deal in his campaign. Go to the AG's site and you'll see this now empty bullshit to the right:

A spokesperson for the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau testified one provision creating a broad “legislator disclosure privilege” has no counterpart in any other state. Despite voting for the motion, Republican members of the panel all professed not to know who proposed the public-records changes.

The award for the most Orwellian way to view this affront to open government?

GOP Rep. Dean Knudson of Hudson said the changes clarify what is a record for lawmakers and would “make it easier for us all to stay on the right side (of the laws).”

Just as mind boggling is this down-the-rabbit-hole conclusion from Rep. Nygren:

Breaking it down to its bare essence...

Erpenbach said if the changes pass, “we don’t need an open records law anymore.”

“I think this is a dark day for Wisconsin government,” said Brett Healy, president of the MacIver Institute. “This appears to be a huge step backwards for transparency. Taxpayers deserve more transparency, not less, and the insertion of this language at this late date in the budget process is really disheartening for those who value open government … “we’re with Sen. Erpenbach on this one. This is a bad idea.”