Lawsuit settled: Isthmus, AP will get emails, Walker must pay legal costs

I find it interesting that Walker did not respond to open records request until lawsuits were filed.

Lawsuit settled: Isthmus, AP will get emails, Walker must pay legal costs

"Isthmus and the AP both made requests, under the state's Open Records Law, on Feb. 18, seeking emails that had been received by the governor's office in response to his "budget repair bill." Gov. Walker stated at his press conference on Feb. 17 that his office has gotten "over 8,000 emails" over the last few days and "the majority are telling us to stay firm, stay strong, to stand with the taxpayers."

The next day, Feb. 18, the governor said his office had now gotten 19,000 emails from state residents, with the "majority in favor" of his plan.

Both Isthmus and the AP sent follow-up emails seeking information as to the status of their requests, which drew no replies. The AP updated its request on Feb. 25 to include emails received as of that date.

Walker's office sent responses to both Isthmus and the AP shortly after 5 pm on Friday, March 4, about two hours after the lawsuit was filed. The office said the responses were written earlier but not sent due to a "clerical oversight."

At a March 8 hearing on the lawsuit, Dane County Judge Patrick Fiedler said he believed the lawsuit was the "trigger" that prompted the office's responses, and rejected arguments that the filing of the suit was premature."

http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=32765

Just wanted to share..the $7,000 in legal fees will be paid for by STATE OF WISCONSIN...not Gov. Walker himself. Think of it..Gov. Walker could IGNORE every public records request until sued..each time leaving the TAXPAYERS OF WISCONSIN footing the legal fees if the Gov. again looses. Historically the media has established theirselves as "experts" in the area of public records laws (under "Freedom of Speech") accross the nation, rarely looses suits to obtain public records and then takes those records to expose leaders. This could be very interesting going forward.

"As part of the settlement, the governor's office agreed to pay just over $7,000 in plantiffs' attorney fees and costs".

flowergirl wrote:Just wanted to share..the $7,000 in legal fees will be paid for by STATE OF WISCONSIN...not Gov. Walker himself. Think of it..Gov. Walker could IGNORE every public records request until sued..each time leaving the TAXPAYERS OF WISCONSIN footing the legal fees if the Gov. again looses. Historically the media has established theirselves as "experts" in the area of public records laws (under "Freedom of Speech") accross the nation, rarely looses suits to obtain public records and then takes those records to expose leaders. This could be very interesting going forward.

"As part of the settlement, the governor's office agreed to pay just over $7,000 in plantiffs' attorney fees and costs".

What I think is interesting is on Feb. 17 the governor was talking about the number of emails he received and said that many were supporting him. Two media sources requested the emails, he ignored the request.

February 18 the governor again talked about the emails he received and again said that most supported him. Again, these new organizations ignored the request. The second request was on Feb. 18.

On Feb. 25 the AP updated their request. Again there was no response.

It took until March 4 for the governor's office to reply to these requests. This was two hours after the lawsuit was filed.

Jane...wanted to send you a private message but still haven't reached enough postings. Gov. Walker will not fare well with media if he continues to ignore Public Records Requests. There is a "per page" charge in every State that has "open records" laws and the Gov. knew he'd end up paying those legal and printing costs when he ignored the requests. Associated Press (AP) along with other larger and small news organizations have professional organizations with HUGE membership that in turn take a % of those membership dues to fight Freedom of Speech issues by utilizing Public Records. I'm guessing Gov. Walker is hoping the number of emails he quoted to have received is more accurate than "it's Mr. Koch on the phone for you". *Please note the Judge allowed his office the "discretionary" decision to remove emails with "specific types of personal info". That would allow the Governor to state that "x" amount of the emails I did not release supported my decisions but can't be released. In turn AP could go back to judge and ask to "visually" review those emails one by one. I'm sure AP is expecting this going forward. (In a former life I used to do research for an investigative journalist and attorney so I have an interesting insight into these types of public records shennigans).

Flowergirl, I look forward to more of your expertise in this area. I like the idea that the governor has to follow the law after trying to dodge it for a couple of weeks. I don't know or understand the finer points and am glad you are here to clarify them. It almost seems like he was trying to get away with not responding at all. Given his track record that is not out of the question.

Thank you again for your insight.

JaneWI wrote:Flowergirl, I look forward to more of your expertise in this area. I like the idea that the governor has to follow the law after trying to dodge it for a couple of weeks. I don't know or understand the finer points and am glad you are here to clarify them. It almost seems like he was trying to get away with not responding at all. Given his track record that is not out of the question.

Thank you again for your insight.

It's been over two years, and all the requests for Gov. Sarah Palin's e-mails have not come to fruition yet. So don't expect anything anytime soon.

knarf wrote:

JaneWI wrote:Flowergirl, I look forward to more of your expertise in this area. I like the idea that the governor has to follow the law after trying to dodge it for a couple of weeks. I don't know or understand the finer points and am glad you are here to clarify them. It almost seems like he was trying to get away with not responding at all. Given his track record that is not out of the question.

Thank you again for your insight.

It's been over two years, and all the requests for Gov. Sarah Palin's e-mails have not come to fruition yet. So don't expect anything anytime soon.

She still hasn't turned over the emails? Yikes!!! I'm hoping it will be different here. I'm hoping there is enough of a push here to get it through more quickly. If Walker is going to brag about all those support emails, let him produce them.

I absolutely do not believe that he received that many emails in support of his lunacy. I hope if they ever do get released that the AP verifies the authenticity of the emails. He is delusional.

The emails have been released.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker releases e-mails about union rights

"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker released to The Associated Press on Friday tens of thousands of e-mails he received in the days after introducing his plan to strip public workers of nearly all their collective bargaining rights."

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110318/GPG0101/110318068/Governor-releases-e-mails-about-union-rights?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Public Records allowed investigative reporters in Wisconsin to pull Gov. Walker's calendar to discover he met with GOP Pollster Frank Luntz in his Wisconsin Office allowing the Dem's to file a complaint with Wisconsin GAO (Gov't Accountability Office) that Walker used public buildings as "cloisters to plot partisan gain". Public Records Laws commonly referred to as "Sushine Laws" celebrated it's anniversary yeterday. Like I said in earlier post Gov. Walker will not fare well with the media if he continues to force the "issue" of igoring public records requests. My sense is the media review of public records from his office has just only begun!!!

http://m.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/03/wi-dems-walkers-frank-luntz-visit-broke-law

And the count is in!
Jane, ya got some crazies living there, for sure.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/22/scott-walker-email-analys_n_839265.html

knarf wrote:And the count is in!
Jane, ya got some crazies living there, for sure.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/22/scott-walker-email-analys_n_839265.html

There are some crazies here all right, but remember, most of the governor's support came from out of state and also remember WI is the home place to Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

In the initial look over the emails this is the part that caught my attention. The emails from people not in WI supported Walker 85% to 15% in opposition. If you look at emails that came from WI residents there were 55% in favor and 45% against.

Either way, this completely leaves out the hundreds of thousands of people that came to Madison and other places to speak out against the budget. There was one Tea Party protest and I think there were around 300 present.

Emails obtained from Gov. Scott Walker show public wrote him in support of budget repair bill

"The Center found that out-of-state emailers supported Walker 85% to 15%. The supportive emails came from at least 45 states and the District of Columbia, and four countries. Of the 1,493 emails on the bill where the sender's location was apparent, a third of Walker's support came from outside the state.

When the Center looked only at emails from Wisconsin, the margin was much slimmer, with 55% favoring his bill and 42% opposed. And 89% of the emails against Walker came from Wisconsinites."

http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=32818

And another thing that caught my attention, Walker is going on and on about 8k emails he received saying they supported him while ignoring 25k people who showed up at the capital to protest what he was trying to do.

Email to Wis. gov. initially favored union rights
"The more than 8,000 emails we got today, the majority are telling us to stay firm, to stay strong, to stand with the taxpayers," Walker said of the emails. "While the protesters have every right to be heard, I'm going to make sure the taxpayers of the state are heard and their voices are not drowned out by those circling the Capitol."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110322/ap_on_re_us/us_wisconsin_budget_emails

That was the numbers I was going by 55% approved. I find that number shocking, and if these people actually know what he is doing, makes it all the more shocking.

knarf wrote:That was the numbers I was going by 55% approved. I find that number shocking, and if these people actually know what he is doing, makes it all the more shocking.

It's pretty sick isn't it? Most people in the state really have no clue what's all at stake and what he wants to do, at least that's what I'm hoping. Remember that my part of the state also is the home of the John Birch Society. There are a few very right wing people here and a lot have been unduly influenced by all of the TV ads bought and paid for by special interest groups like Prosperity for America.

EDIT: One more thing to add, how many people did not send an email to Walker and chose to show up at the capital instead? I did not send any emails to him, but attended 5 different rallies at the capital and two rallies in other cities in the state.

JaneWI wrote:

knarf wrote:That was the numbers I was going by 55% approved. I find that number shocking, and if these people actually know what he is doing, makes it all the more shocking.

It's pretty sick isn't it? Most people in the state really have no clue what's all at stake and what he wants to do, at least that's what I'm hoping. Remember that my part of the state also is the home of the John Birch Society. There are a few very right wing people here and a lot have been unduly influenced by all of the TV ads bought and paid for by special interest groups like Prosperity for America.

EDIT: One more thing to add, how many people did not send an email to Walker and chose to show up at the capital instead? I did not send any emails to him, but attended 5 different rallies at the capital and two rallies in other cities in the state.

Point well taken

Sending an email is an easy and quick thing to do. Attending a rally takes a much bigger commitment.

I remember watching the news conference when Walker was saying he had 8k people who have emailed him, most of them supporting his decision while he completely neglected to mention the 25k who took the time, effort and gas money to show up and tell him personally what they thought of his ideas. Mind you, it was pretty cold outside, so those protesters were also facing great personal discomfort as well.

The people who sent the emails did that from the comfort and warmth of their own homes.

Sorry to beat a "dead horse" on this, but there are still many people here and around the country that really have no clue what is all at stake here.