[Madison, WI] – This week marks National Sunshine Week — a nationwide initiative celebrating the importance of open government and freedom of information. Unfortunately, despite Attorney General Kaul’s self-proclaimed declaration yesterday that Wisconsin is “a leader in government transparency,” Wisconsinites have been left in the dark under the Gov. Evers administration.
Gov. Evers set the tone for his administration early by scrapping a website created by Gov. Walker’s administration that promoted transparency by allowing the public to track open records requests. Following this decision, a Wisconsin Law and Liberty study found that the Evers administration’s system for tracking public records was “disorganized and dysfunctional,” and “one out of three of all open records requests are either unfulfilled or not recorded properly.”
Despite these concerning reports, Gov. Evers kept his administration shrouded from public view. Fox 6 News had to take the governor to court to be able to access just one day of his emails after narrowing their request several times. Gov. Evers’ staff even made a Nixon-esque secret recording of a meeting with state Republican lawmakers to discuss Wisconsin’s coronavirus response.
“Gov. Evers seems to be running one of the most secretive administrations in Wisconsin history,” said WisGOP Chairman Andrew Hitt. “Wisconsinites deserve better than a governor who tries to hinder transparency and keep government shrouded at every opportunity. What is he trying to hide?”
