Posted on 07/10/2015 8:55:07 AM PDT by conservativejoy
Walker and GOP legislators drop controversial changes to open records law after bipartisan backlash
Posted 3:57 pm, July 4, 2015, by AP Wire
Capitol Madison, WI
MADISON — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he and GOP legislative leaders have agreed to completely remove a part of the proposed state budget that would severely roll back the state’s open records laws.
Walker announced the decision in a joint statement Saturday, July 4th with Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, and the co-chairs of the joint budget committee.
The statement says the records proposal “will be removed from the budget in its entirety.” They say the plan “was never intended to inhibit transparent government in any way.”
The restrictions, which Republicans slipped into the proposed budget late Thursday, would exempt nearly everything created by government officials from Wisconsin’s open records law.
The statement says the Legislature will form a committee to study the issue and allow for public discussion.
Governor Scott Walker, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, and the Joint Finance Committee Co-Chairs, Senator Alberta Darling and Representative John Nygren, released the following statement on the provisions to the state’s open records law included in Motion 999:
“After substantive discussion over the last day, we have agreed that the provisions relating to any changes in the state’s open records law will be removed from the budget in its entirety. We are steadfastly committed to open and accountable government. The intended policy goal of these changes was to provide a reasonable solution to protect constituents’ privacy and to encourage a deliberative process between elected officials and their staff in developing policy. It was never intended to inhibit transparent government in any way.”
“In order to allow for further debate on this issue outside of budget process, the Legislature will form a Legislative Council committee to more appropriately study it and allow for public discussion and input
Since some here have dismissed this story as some sort of liberal conspiracy, I posted the story from another conservative source.
More on the changes to the Wisconsin budget regarding open records policy.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
Thank you for all the info you provide.
You’re very welcome. I like to do my small part to make FRee Republic the “go-to” source for the latest news.
It was immediately taken out of the budget after bi-partisan blow-back.
Voss was upfront that the entire Republican leadership team was involved and admitted a mistake.
The BALANCED budget was approved in a vote two nights ago and this was NOT IN IT
This article is from 6 days ago, and has already been posted. Why are you posting 6 day old articles?
Sunlight the best disinfectant. LOL!
Because yesterday, there were folks on this site who claimed that none of this ever happened, it was all made up by libs.
This was initiated by Walker just like Slick Willie did in Arkansas to keep his records closed from scrutiny. His own legislators refused to cover for him and disclosed as much to reporters saying they were not taking the fall for this.
Proving, once again, that he needs to stay in Wisconsin. Scott Walker is not ready for Prime Time.
——His own legislators refused to cover for him and disclosed as much to reporters saying they were not taking the fall for this.
Back to your default lying mode I see. Speaker Robin Voss appeared on several Milwaukee talk shows in the last couple of days and said this effort had agreement among the leadership team and was everyone’s mistake.
Other legislative leaders defended the law and said it had had support in their caucus
Rep. John Nygren, co-chairman of the Legislature’s budget-writing committee, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, said the plan had the input and support of legislative leaders from both houses.
Publically defending <> “refused to cover for him”
for the record, I emailed the governor and requested that this be removed from the budget.
You could have been truthful and published a recap recounting that this was immediately pulled from the budget rather than implying that this was still an issue.
I didn’t imply anything. I even stated the reason for the article being posted was the accusations by some yesterday that claimed this never happened but was made up by libs.
I couldn’t agree more. Taking this act nationwide would be a Republican version of Jimmy Carter.
In the article you linked, I couldn’t help but laugh at “Walker’s staff did not answer questions”. If he hadn’t initiated the whole thing, it would be a simple matter to say so, but he knows he’ll tick off some people who will not back his lies.
Typically you ignore the repeated appearance of the Speaker of the Assembly who took blame for this.
You have some kind of truth brain damage.
Did Walker deny his involvement? Why won’t he answer questions about it? Why the silent treatment from his staff? You are pathetic if you can’t connect the dots.
Who had motive, means, and opportunity to do this? Could it be the guy about to announce his Presidential run? Who else had a motive to repeal open records laws that had been on the books over a hundred years? Not only do you apparently not know anything, you don’t even Suspect anything!
The comments with your article were hilarious! He is known for his prevaricating. How do you like his well articulated answers? LOL!
Just so you know, a lot of the commentors at the newspaper site are hardcore liberals and they hate Gov. Walker and republicans. But the governor constantly walks into these traps or does tone-deaf things that blow up in his face and he never seems to learn. He needs to just stay put in Wisconsin. I’m fairly happy with how he governs the state.
If you’re happy, I’m happy. There’s a lot of difference between running a state and running the country, as Jimmah found out.
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