Walker claims Open Records Law will "stop all creative thinking."

Democrats have been right about a lot of things when it comes to the consequences of draconian spending cuts and tax policy handouts to big business. Thought through, not a lot of what the Walker administration does makes sense.

And as a voter, wouldn't you want to know how and why your elected politician did what they did, to better understand their thinking? It's one way to know if they're competent enough to be in office.

Oddly, Scott Walker doesn't think that's a good idea, nosy voters watching him and his administration coming up with policy. How will it will stop "creative thinking?" You know, creative suggestions and bad ideas that are mean, partisan, ugly and racist. Who needs to know who said what?

Check out the chopping, tortured illogical thinking Walker offered up to WKOW reporter Greg Neumann:  

Walker: "Something where I'm brainstorming and talking to some of my staff about that, that's not the same as a, a....if you do that you might as well stop all creative thinking, because nobody's ever gonna put on paper any ideas that they have. So to me that's a big difference between...the purpose of open records is to understand who may or may not be influencing people."

If lawmakers are offering ideas they're afraid to put on paper, maybe they shouldn't be suggesting them or be in office:



We have a right to see their pettiness and open contempt for voters for ourselves.

Walker Republicans working up to Secret Government, attempt after attempt after attempt....

Republicans talk big about "integrity" and "public confidence" in government, a joke to be sure, but closing that government to the public isn't one way they'll ever get that done.

And pretending communications between lobbying and elected officials is unimportant and off limits for public scrutiny is doubly insulting. They got caught, and are now backtracking:

State officials are backing away from their effort to ease the requirements for maintaining public records following a backlash among open government advocates.

The board that oversees state public records will instead revisit its August vote on so-called transitory records, such as texts and other messages deemed to have only temporary value, its chairman Matthew Blessing said Thursday. The August action by the Public Records Board could limit the access of citizens and media outlets to information from texts, emails, Facebook messages and other electronic methods that public employees might use to communicate about official actions.

If you think state officials will make this go away, you're mistaken, they're still going to make texts messaging exempt:

...the board "will place those items on a detailed agenda for an upcoming meeting."

And just like before, when Walker threatened to do away with our open records laws, he took a few steps back hoping to deflect blame, for now anyway. Too late...

A spokeswoman for Gov. Scott Walker distanced the governor's office from the issue. "The Public Records Board has been in place long before the governor took office and has received no directive from our office," Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said.

Still, Walker tried to make it seem like his governorship is open to the public:

"Occasionally, when I get emails or texts on my own personal phone, I forward those to my state account so it's easy for us to do a search on those," Walker said. "So they're actually in the state system" ... he tries to document texts or other communication he receives on his personal cellphone."

Of course he does, since they're really part of the public record. But in reality, Walker would make those emails and texts "transitory," off limits.

The same day he made these comments, two former administration officials admitted they were told to keep important communications secret. No, really, it was that quick:

But on Friday, a new report found former members of Walker's cabinet say the administration has had a policy of communicating official business through private channels. Peter Bildsten, former secretary of the Department of Financial Institutions, and Paul Jadin, former head of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., told the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism that they were instructed in Walker's first term by then-Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch not to use official email or state telephones to relay important information or documents. Huebsch said, "Don't send me an email of anything important on my state computer, and don't call me on anything of importance on my state phone. If you have anything of consequence or importance, call me on your personal phones or walk it over."

Because open government and open records is so important to the Walker authority?

jsonline: "And that is how most communications were handled going forward," Bilsten told Dee J. Hall of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

Jadin said he remembers Huebsch "bragged" about not using email and "making a big deal about what emails were discoverable."

Huebsch went as far as to throw both important members of Walker's cabinet under the bus, in an incredible juvenile moment of lying:

Huebsch, who now serves on the Public Service Commission, denied he told cabinet members "to avoid making public records" and said the allegation that he told them not to use state telephones is "ludicrous. In this era of 'gotcha' politics, where opponents and some journalists use anything available not just to embarrass but destroy, extra caution is essential."

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.

Walker caught lying about his involvement in trashing Open Records Law. Video, Watch him Lie!

Scott Walker denied he had anything to do with trying to do away with the open records law. jsonline:

Walker has acknowledged his office had a role in developing the plan, but he also has tried to distance himself from it, saying this month the overall proposal "didn't come from us."

But that's not true:

Gov. Scott Walker's office pushed to add language into the attempted overhaul of Wisconsin's open records law that would have shielded briefings, discussions about policy drafts and other "deliberative" documents, newly released documents show. The records, described as "deliberative process materials," would have also made unavailable to the public opinions, analyses, recommendations, suggestions and notes that preceded a final decision. Early versions of the sweeping open records limits did not include language preventing the release of deliberative materials. But limits to "deliberative process materials" were in place by June 15, a review of newly available records shows.

Now that we know the truth, it's worth a look at how Walker lies...by never answering straight forward questions like below. If our kids did that we'd know they were lying, if an adult sized adolescent bully did it, were supposed to give him the benefit of the doubt? Don't think so. Still, this is how Walker answers most of his questions, which begs the question, why is he always lying?

Walker and his administration are being sued by the Progressive magazine and the liberal Center for Media and Democracy over the issue in Dane County Circuit Court.

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.

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.