Attorney: 'I would not trust this Legislature to do the right thing' with open records laws (WI) [View all]

[riversedge]

I would not --and do not trust them [Republicans]either. I had read someplace (wished I had saved it) that they would call a special session over this!!


Spud Lovr ?@SpudLovr 9h9 hours ago
Attorney: 'I would not trust this Legislature to do the right thing' with open records laws: http://bit.ly/1DPHkoi #wiunion #wipolitics



Attorney: 'I would not trust this Legislature to do the right thing' with open records laws

14 hours ago • By Jessie Opoien | The Capital Times


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Senate Majority Leader Scott L. Fitzgerald, left, speaking at an event last month, said he and Gov. Scott Walker, center, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, right, have agreed to pull language altering the state's open records law from the state budget.

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.............Several attorneys on Wednesday cautiously agreed some changes are worth considering, but rebuked legislative leaders for the ones they proposed and the manner in which they did so.

The conversation was part of Attorney General Brad Schimel's open government summit, ................

Bob Dreps, an attorney specializing in media and political law who counts the Capital Times among his clients, said the last-minute budget motion, introduced and passed by Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee, "seriously poisoned the atmosphere because it demonstrated legislative leadership currently ... does not support the policies underlying public records law."

"Public opinion forced them to back down, but they haven't given up," Dreps said.

Republican leaders have said they plan to consider possible changes to public records law in a legislative study committee. Dreps said he would support the use of that process to address updates to the law covering electronic records, but he does so "with some trepidation."

Open government advocates have long been wary of tinkering with the existing laws for fear they could be made more restrictive, he said.

If a study committee does consider changes, Dreps suggested the Legislature shouldn't act on them until after the 2016 elections, when lawmakers who supported the budget motion will be forced to explain their positions to voters.

"As currently structured, I would not trust this Legislature to do the right thing," Dreps said.

Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/attorney-i-would-not-trust-this-legislature-to-do-the/article_1878d544-ded8-558f-8960-50bf26e6af85.html#ixzz3hMsR6Rm3


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Edit-another TWEET:

The Wheeler Report ?@WheelerReports 25m25 minutes ago

Email links Scott Walker to open records changes. via @WiStateJournal http://bit.ly/1MVSrRR