March 16, 2018 at 6:56 p.m.
Sunshine Week 2018:
The Lakeland Times' and Northwoods River News' open records grades
Sunshine Week 2018:
The following grades are calculated using several measures, including how responsive officials have been this past year to open records' requests, how diligently they have strived to keep the workings of government open, how willing they were to communicate with the media and with the public, as well as their past track record.
The rating scale:
A - Excellent. Passionately committed to open government and accountability. The public is lucky to have these officials. They have full knowledge of the open records' and open meetings' laws.
B - Good. These records' custodians do an above-average job. They may need more knowledge and education about the law but are committed in principle to openness and side more often than not with open-records' advocates.
C - Average. These custodians need more immediate education about open government laws. They tend to respond slowly to records' requests, and they are as likely to withhold information as to release it. Still, these officials have never landed in court over an open records' dispute.
D - Below Average. These custodians do not believe in open government or in the release of open records. They usually land on the side of secrecy. These officials are suspicious of the public. They have very little knowledge of the open records' and open meetings' laws, and have even less interest in learning about them.
F - Failure. These people should be removed as records' custodians. They cannot be trusted by the public and couldn't spell FREEDOM if you spotted them F-R-E-E-_-O-M.
I - Incomplete. While it is too early to rate an overall performance in their current positions, we will record any recent actions and use their track records to calculate a "trending" rank.
We direct your attention to pages 8 and 9, where we hand out failing grades to numerous goverment entities and employes, special interest groups and elected officials. We do so not because we want to downplay the passion and ethics of those who understand and defend open government but to draw attention to the rapidly increasing ranks of the many attacking it.
Consider them wanted posters in the post office of public records. And now, this year's grades:
A+ Best of the Best
Vilas County circuit court judge Neal A. "Chip" Nielsen
This past year, we encountered no significant new rulings on open records by Vilas County circuit court judge Neal A. "Chip" Nielsen, but we continue to give him the paper's highest honor because of a lifetime of accumulated work, which is a consistent body of rulings dedicated to preserving the principles of open government.
One might call it a lifetime achievement award for his work to date.
The words we used last year are equally applicable today and are worth repeating:
"In January 2016, in a case involving (our sister paper) The Lakeland Times, Nielsen again affirmed his undying commitment to transparency. We say so not because his decision favored the newspaper - it did - but because he obviously balanced the pros and cons of disclosure of the records at hand and reached a decision based first and foremost on the public's right to know.
"It was an eloquent decision, and for a principle that is hardly defended at all these days, much less with the wisdom of the ages: the public's right to know, even - and sometimes especially - in the most extraordinary circumstances.
"We know that judge Nielsen will not likely rule in favor of open-records' advocates every time they step into his courtroom; but those advocates can rest assured that, every time, he will rule in favor of their First Principle, that the public's right to know is a sacred thing, not lightly dismissed."
Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty
This is the first appearance on our list for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, and the legal and educational group debuts impressively at the top of the list with judge Nielsen of Vilas County.
WILL is a conservative-oriented group committed to classical liberalism and constitutional government, but its conservative principles have not stopped it from working with groups supporting open government from across the ideological spectrum. WILL considers transparency a core principle and an essential one in a free society, and it work backs up its words.
That's the way it should be.
For example, as we report elsewhere, this past month WILL sued state Rep. Jonathan Brostoff for printing out electronic records and charging record requesters on a per-page basis instead of simply sending the files electronically or putting them on a CD or flash drive, or even sending them by email, as many custodians do.
WILL is really suing the entire Wisconsin Assembly, because Brostoff was merely following Assembly policy. WILL is right - Assembly policy violates the law. Not only that, but the Assembly is adhering to such a policy for one reason and one reason only: It is trying to make access to public records more costly and difficult. Why else invest so much effort in printing out what could easily and more quickly be transferred electronically?
In the past, WILL has successfully sued and won cases related to citizens' rights to receive records in a timely way, to attend school-book selection committee meetings, and to prevent redactions of basic information from law enforcement incident reports and citations. All in all, WILL has provided a valuable and necessary service in upholding the public records law in a time when it is under attack in all three branches of government.
Newbold Town Board
Always quick to offer any relevant documents or answer questions, the Newbold Town Board deserves to be held in the highest regard. Throughout the ongoing subject of ATV routes in the town, town chairman Dave Kroll, along with supervisors Ed Hammer, Jim Staskiewicz, Bob Metropulos and Mike McKenzie, have been thorough in their explanations to the citizens of the town, along with the media.
A great deal of credit should go to town clerk Kim Gauthier and treasurer Jodie Hess, who are on top of and up to date with town matters. Gauthier is relied upon heavily in the bi-monthly town board meetings, where she delivers in an organized, and efficient manner.
Newbold Town Board meetings are swift, and stick closely to the printed agenda. Kroll is firm with his aversion to drifting off-topic and is very aware of open meeting laws. Other towns should look to the Town of Newbold if they are interested in running in a more methodical, productive manner.
Minocqua town clerk Roben Haggart,
Woodruff town clerk Christine Woynich,
Arbor Vitae town clerk Mary Reuland,
Manitowish Waters town clerk Dana Hilbert,
St. Germain town clerk Tom Martens,
Presque Isle town clerk Lorine Walters
It's been our experience in working with each of these town clerks their interest in keeping things as transparent as possible when it comes to open records and open meetings for their respective town boards is evident.
For the most part, we shouldn't really single any one of them out in that respect as each excels in their responsibilities.
However, we will.
In Presque Isle, Lorine Walters helps to keep recent town board meetings there from getting more out of hand and off the agenda than they have at times.
Roben Haggart of Minocqua not only provides information nearly instantly when asked by The Lakeland Times but also frequently assists town chairman Mark Hartzheim during the meetings as well.
St. Germain's Tom Martens, town clerk since the early 1970s, is not always popular in certain town circles when it comes to certain items he's taken a personal stance on in recent years, such as the future of the red brick school house or part of a snowmobile trail he didn't want in the very front of his yard.
Those sort of things aside, he continues to work with us when we've requested information from him and from the town's standpoint, is actually valuable when it comes to providing some historical background for the town on some different items.
Arbor Vitae's Mary Reuland is another of the most knowledgeable town clerks in the area.
Dana Hilbert of Manitowish Waters is another steady town clerk.
Christine Woynich, Woodruff's town clerk, took over from Kim Albano, yet another stellar performer in the town clerk role in the Lakeland area.
Woynich has been very responsive to questions and requests for information we've sent her way and even though in the position a relatively short time compared to the others, is coming along, as far as we're concerned, nicely.
Vilas County finance director Jason Hilger
There may be some department heads and Vilas County supervisors who may not always agree with finance director Jason Hilger (in fact, his nickname in certain circles is "Dr. No") but county financial records since he was hired in 2012 show there's no denying the steady, overall positive impact he's had on county financials since getting the job.
In just the past couple years, he's helped guide the county highway department into a position he was looking to have it: out of the red, for the most part, and a facet of county government not totally dependent on the county budget for funding on a year to year basis.
Under Hilger's guidance, a two story, multi-million dollar courthouse addition has been constructed, the financing of which he helped put together in a way designed to mitigate the effect on the tax bills of Vilas County residents, all while keeping the county's general fund balance in a healthy $7 million to $8 million range.
That "healthy" fund balance sometimes tends to rankle some within county government and they let their feelings be known at a committee meeting here or there or maybe even a meeting of the full county board, the belief being if it's needed to fund different programs or initiatives, it should be used.
That's another story.
With The Lakeland Times, though, Hilger is more than accommodating when it comes to information we ask for and helping in understanding where he's coming from regarding a financial item and its budgetary effect, one way or the other.
A Excellent
Vilas County clerk/county board
Once again, Vilas County clerk Dave Alleman is excellent in providing information when asked and helping Vilas County board chairman Ron DeBruyne on the "straight and narrow" when it comes to making sure meetings of the Vilas County board are conducted properly and within parameters of state open meeting law.
The same can be said of meetings of the several committees the county board has that are covered on a regular basis by the paper.
Lakeland Union High School
Once again, both as a board and an educational facility, officials at LUHS deserve praise for their commitment to open conduct.
Meetings run efficiently and document requests are often granted immediately after a board gathering if they are not included in the information packets routinely provided to The Lakeland Times and other media outlets.
Principal Jim Bouché is easy to reach via phone or email and makes effort to reach out or refer the press to others who can help when presented with media questions, even when occupied at out-of-town conferences.
For its commitment to transparency and by providing regular email updates from district secretary Lisa Kennedy, LUHS has earned one of the highest grades on the scale.
Oneida County supervisor Robb Jensen
When it comes to transparency, Jensen is someone who gets it. Whether it is through asking intelligent and probing questions of other officials in meetings, making himself available to the media for interviews or giving away copies of his own documents to reporters who request copies of information, his commitment to transparency is superb. All in the county should follow his example.
Town of Woodboro
The town of Woodboro has been forthcoming with any requests for further information. The town is cognizant of staying on topic and limiting discussion and action to agenda items only. The board is always willing to hear public comment. Agendas and meeting times are always posted well within the time allowed, and usually much earlier. Special public meetings are called when needed and are also posted well in advance.
Towns of Minocqua, Arbor Vitae, Lake Tomahawk and Plum Lake
We really don't have any issues at this time with any of these towns.
The various office staffs in these towns are very cooperative and timely in responding to information requests from The Lakeland Times.
Each town chairman knows how to run town board meetings.
Minocqua town chairman Mark Hartzheim, to avoid any "vagueness" issues as they relate to state open meetings law, has removed the monthly reports of Mark Pertile, the town's public works director, and Dave Jaeger, the chief of police, from meeting agendas.
The town of Plum Lake has a bit of an issue at the moment involving all terrain vehicles and utility vehicles but town chairman Will Maines, as far as we've seen so far, has allowed people on either side of that issue opportunities to weigh in when appropriate during town board meetings.
Town of Pine Lake
The town of Pine Lake posts meeting times and dates, as well as agendas, well within the required time frames. They have always been easy to work with and requests for further information on any topic have always been complied with in a timely manner. The board follows each meeting agenda and welcomes any and all public comment at all of the meetings.
Town of Crescent
The Crescent Town Board strictly follows agenda items and does not allow conversations to stray from those items. They allow for 15 minutes of public comment during each meeting, which has proved to be more than ample. They have been forthcoming with any information requests from The Northwoods River News. Meetings are always posted well within the allotted timeframe and agendas available.
Town of Cassian
The Northwoods River News has never had any transparency-related issues with the Cassian Town Board. Although much of the board is fairly new, they seem to have a very firm handle on open meetings and open records laws. They adhere to agenda items at every meeting and not only welcome, but encourage, pubic comment and suggestions at every meeting.
Town of Hazelhurst
The Hazelhurst Town Board is vey diligent with posting their meeting agendas, times and dates. These have all been posted within the allotted time frame. The board adheres to the agenda and does not deviate. Any requests The Lakeland Times has had for further information have been met with graciously and the information delivered in a very timely fashion. The newspaper has not had any transparency-related issues with the Hazelhurst Town Board. They seem well aware of open meetings laws and abide by them well.
Rhinelander Police Department
The RPD has a long-standing relationship of openness with The Northwoods River News. A representative of the department meets weekly with a reporter of this paper to go over police reports and keeps us informed of the department's activities. The few times the newspaper has filed open records requests with the department, it has been prompt in turning over the information. Officers from the department on scenes of accidents and fires have been mindful of the needs of our reporters in covering the events while at the same time keeping them out of harms way.
Rhinelander Fire Department
Like their brethren in blue, the RFD has always been open with this newspaper. Chief Terry Williams and his command structure are extremely responsive to phone calls and emails seeking information. Leadership is also good about keeping reporters informed at the scene of fires.
Oneida County Planning and Development Committee and staff
The committee - comprised of supervisors Scott Holewinski, Jack Sorensen, Dave Hintz, Billy Fried and Mike Timmons - along with zoning director Karl Jennrich and assistant director Pete Wegner, have been extraordinarily transparent with the media and public for years. There was no change this past year, and we applaud them for their openness.
Citizens for Education in Town Governance (CETG)
CETG is a group of volunteers in Lac du Flambeau who attend town meetings, take notes and post recordings online, allowing access to town governance to everyone. Their website includes copies of town budgets, ongoing town board business, information on public records law, a list of the town's ordinances and the minutes, agenda and recordings of town board meetings. All of these are free, downloadable files which anybody with internet can access.
In days when government is becoming less transparent, "watchdog" groups like this one are essential. Learn more about CETG at cetg.weebly.com.
Woodruff Town Board
The Woodruff Town Board raises no real concerns regarding open meetings or open records type issues.
Woodruff Town Board is generally open and compliant.
The only issues were one meeting that was not properly posted and chairman Mike Timmons voting on his own insurance policy, which was corrected at the next meeting.
Vilas County Land and Water Conservation Committee
The Vilas County Land and Water Conservation Committee does have a contentious meeting from time to time, but there have been no transparency issues or issues of points of order with this committee. Chair Kim Simac, and vice chair Holly Tomlanovich are always conscious of the agenda and sticking to the topics listed there. Meetings are alway properly posted in a timely manner. At any time, if there has been a question of regarding a point or order, the chair, or vice, in her absence, has been quick to contact corporation counsel before continuing on in a "better safe than sorry" scenario. The Times has never had an issue collecting any needed information from this committee.
Oneida County Conservation and UW-Extension Education Committee
The Oneida Conservation and UW-Extension Committee meeting agendas are always properly posted well within the given time frame. Bob Mott, the chair, ensures the committee adheres to the agenda. Any requests for further information have been handled quickly and fully. There have been no issues regarding transparency with this committee.
Minocqua and Woodruff police departments
Minocqua police chief Dave Jaeger has let us know more than once he's a firm believer in being as transparent as possible.
And he continues to prove that, making sure if he doesn't personally get us the information on a matter we're seeking through something such as a press release, someone else does.
Woodruff's police chief, Lenny Drewson, also makes sure his department works with us within parameters of open records law as well as his department's policies.
B Good
School District of Rhinelander
Rhinelander schools have made an effort of late to be more open and transparent, but this has not always been the case. The target of frequent open records requests, superintendent Kelli Jacobi has a mixed record in timeliness on responses, with some coming right away while others are delayed while seeking an opinion from the district's lawyer first. But there has been some improvement in the past year, which is reflected in SDR's grade this year.
Lac du Flambeau School Board
The Lac du Flambeau School Board receives a 'B' because of its transparency and openness. At meetings, the materials the board discusses are all copied and laid out on a table so attendees have the opportunity to pick up a copy and review the materials with the board. The board also, to keep the meetings more organized, puts bullet points of items being discussed under broad sections, such as "superintendent's report" and "business." The board does not receive a higher grade because during an open meeting they incorrectly accused an article of being full of falsities.
Vilas County Sheriff's Office
Yes, we'll go with a B on this one this year.
Ironically enough, an incident that kind of left Sheriff Joe Fath's department with some egg on its face also helped the grade.
We realize he and his staff took a huge "heat round" when one of the suspects in the Wayne Valliere Jr., murder case tried to turn himself in at the Vilas County Jail on Feb. 9 but was turned away and told to go to Iron County by members of the jail staff.
19-year-old James Lussier did indeed walk away, which resulted in a statewide manhunt that ended several days later with his apprehension by authorities in Oshkosh.
After Fath conducted an internal investigation, two members of the jail staff resigned, another was demoted and there could be other disciplinary measures taken against other staff members.
If we were to give that mess a grade, it would probably be in the D or maybe F range.
Maybe a "That never should have happened" type grade.
Or "What in the world were those on duty at the jail that night thinking?" type grade.
No, these grades are about getting information from the department, such as information regarding traffic accidents that may be go with a photo we have that may be released to the general public.
People like Pat Schmidt, the department's chief deputy, are responsive to media queries regarding different items, which is greatly appreciated.
Then there's responding to things like a media query Fath received from The Lakeland Times regarding "the Lussier incident" at the Vilas County Jail Feb. 9.
We sent our email asking about Lussier's attempt to turn himself to Fath and he called our office to tell what he knew had happened within 15 minutes.
He gets kudos for that sort of openness and transparency.
Oneida County sheriff's department
Last year we thought it was too much to say that Oneida County chief deputy Dan Hess and sheriff Grady Hartman had seen the light and were following it to open government, though we noted progress had been made.
Well, this year there been even more progress. The sheriff and Hess turn over records and are more cooperative when answering media requests than at any time since the heyday of openness under former chief deputy John Sweeney. We can even imagine sheriff Hartman as Jake in the Blues Brothers movies, when a heavenly light shines down on him and the Reverend Cleophus James asks him if he has seen the light. Jake yells, I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT! and apparently the sherriff and Hess are right there singing and dancing with him.
President Donald Trump
The president is a hard man to define, beyond being a populist and a nationalist. He is neither a liberal nor a conservative, and on issues like open government his place on the political spectrum is even harder to pin down. Still, we give him high marks for trying to drain the swamp of Washington, D.C.
Yes, it's true the White House wrongly closed down visitor logs so we don't know who is traipsing in and out of the people's house all the time. But on other issues, the president has been treated unfairly. He has been accused of scrubbing "data" from federal websites, but a lot of that was just fake science and propaganda, particularly about climate change.
He also threatened to end White House briefings, but why should he give briefings to mainstream media outlets who are just going to distort what he tells them? He did not end the briefings, but he did open them up to alternative news outlets in an attempt to level the playing field with the globalist press. That's a huge victory for an open society.
And where President Obama tried to tighten the screws on whistleblowers, Trump has embraced them. His nominees to the agency that protects federal whistleblowers are strong advocates for them, and the president last summer signed a law creating an Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection within the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Best of all, there's the president's tweets, off the cuff information most bureaucrats would never like to see the light of day. The mainstream press likes to help the bureaucrats suppress information, but Trump's twitter feed makes all the difference in the world. Score the president high on openness.
B- Better than average
Town of St. Germain
We don't really have an issue with the town of St. Germain at this time but there was one incident we're going to ding them for.
During the summer of 2017, The Lakeland Times filed an open records request with the town of St. Germain.
According to the minutes of a special meeting of the town board held July 19, the town board, among other items, met in closed session to discuss, among other things, "a new hire for the Public Works Department, Zoning Administrator's Job Description as it relates to the Public Works Department and ambulance service for the Town."
Once the town board reconvened into open session, town supervisor John Vojta made a motion to "extend an offer for employment, as discussed in closed session, to one of the applicants at $12 per hour plus the customary benefit package."
He left the person's name out of the motion, seconded by supervisor Doug Olson. The first attempt to get the name of the person by The Lakeland Times occurred after the meeting.
Over the course of the next few days, town clerk Tom Martens referred inquiries about the person the town board hired to Vojta and Christensen.
An email was sent by the newspaper to the entire town board and Martens, once again asking the name of the person.
Christensen answered the email, saying the person in question "has not accepted the position yet so we will not be releasing his name."
"Once he has accepted the position and notified his present employer that he is coming to work for the Town, we will release his name," he said.
Vojta later sent Christensen an email saying the town's public works director/road foreman, Tim Ebert, was back from vacation.
"I have spent the afternoon on and off the phone with Tim Ebert," Vojta wrote. "After many calls, Tim has reached an agreement with Rick Arbaugh and will now hire Rick to fill our position advertised for the Public Works Department. I will have Tim notify the other applicant that the position has been filled."
As it relates to that person who ended up being the final candidate for the position and hired - in this case, Arbaugh - not disclosing that person's name appears to be a violation of Wisconsin open meetings law.
In fact, information pertaining to that person - his or her resume, for example - was a matter of public record even before the closed session.
"'Final candidate' means each applicant who is seriously considered for appointment or whose name is certified for appointment, and whose name is submitted for final consideration to an authority for appointment, to any of the following," the law reads, the "following" to include a local public office or position.
According to the law, "final candidate" also applies to "at least five applicants for an office or position ... who are considered the most qualified for the office or position by an authority."
The law also pertains to the situation when there are fewer than five applicants for an office or position.
Tuesday afternoon, The Lakeland Times filed an open record request with the town of St. Germain.
"You are hereby notified that The Lakeland Times is making an official state of Wisconsin open records request for the following records," Lakeland Times publisher Gregg Walker wrote in an email to Christensen. "We are asking for all closed session meeting minutes, agendas for closed sessions and the reason why the board went into closed session from July, 1 2016 to July 24, 2017."
Since then, there hasn't been a problem.
In fact, Christensen has taken steps to avoid further problems, including the removal of vague items from meeting agendas.
Oneida County Clerk Tracy Hartman
In her interactions with the paper, Hartman has been open and honest and more than willing to provide documents and make copies of items when requested, but, she is failing to handle a key transparency problem.
In December, Hartman was alerted by the media about more than 150 instances where the minutes, an agenda or both items from a meeting were not posted online for the public to examine.
Though this is not a violation of public records law, it does violate Oneida County Code which requires these items to be posted online within 10 days of being approved by a committee. Hartman said her office would do better, but as of March 5, there are still meetings missing information.
Yes, people could come down and obtain copies of data, but for those who can't, the Internet is their source of information. Hartman needs to do better on this if she wants to receive a better evaluation in the future.
C Average
Gov. Scott Walker
Gov. Scott Walker can be labeled a co-conspirator in the doomed bid by the GOP to repeal the state's entire open-records law, if not its primary instigator. So how can such an enemy of open government bounce back to get a C?
Easy. It's because most public officials are actually worse than he is when it comes to transparency, so he gets graded on the curve.
Then, too, he actually issued two executive orders in the last two years directing state agencies to be more transparent in their work. The latest order directed that each state agency use performance dashboards to promote transparent government by posting its public records metrics, including the total number of public records requests received; the total number completed; and the average time taken to fulfill public records requests.
The governor also ordered that the Department of Administration create and manage a Wisconsin public notice website through Wisconsin.gov that is a centralized location for state agencies to post open meetings notices and meeting minutes; and directed that each state agency, including each department, board, council, and commission, post all open meetings notices and meetings minutes to the Wisconsin public notice website.
Walker also directed the agencies to increase the number of documents readily available for public viewing online. His order also limited how much state agencies can charge for printed copies.
In the larger scheme of things, these actions might not seem like a lot, but over time small steps add up to great strides, and for that the governor moves up the rating board.
Sen. Tom Tiffany
We did not have any major open-records issues with Sen. Tiffany this year, so he maintains the mediocre grade he got last year. He doesn't really do anything to promote transparency in government, but at least this past year he did no harm.
Lac du Flambeau Town Board
The Lac du Flambeau Town Board receives a 'C' for inaccessible meeting times. LdF Town Board meetings fall on Wednesday's at 1 p.m., meaning the average, working citizen is not able to attend the meetings. The LdF Town Board received one grade higher than last year as they have now added 'Public on agenda items only' to every agenda, and are working to create a new Notice of Records Access ordinance. LdF Town Board is generally open and compliant when responding to information requests.
Vilas County district attorney Martha Milanowski
We were all set to give Ms. Milanowski a grade of A, but last minute concerns cause us to mark her down.
That 'A' rating would have been based on her reputation as a public official who historically cares about transparency. Specifically, she prosecuted the town board of Boulder Junction for an open meetings violation last year, a charge the court found the town board guilty of - and they admitted to - and that voided actions taken in an illegal closed session.
However, that illegal closed session involved a now invalid vote to pay out $8,700 to the town clerk. Milanowski had no way to order the town board to return the money under the open records law.
Still, months and months later, the town board has made no move to pay what the court has adjudged to be an illegal expenditure of tax dollars. To us, that constitutes another violation of the law - knowingly doing nothing to recover funds they illegally dispensed - and thus calls for a new investigation.
So far Ms. Milanowski's office has seemed to wash its hands of the loss of tax dollars, and we'll see if that stands. But to take no action against an illegal expenditure of money - after being the force that caused the court to rule the vote illegal in the first place - makes no sense.
Indeed, to allow the board to get away with expending the money after it has been found guilty of illegally doing so would render Milanowski's open meetings prosecution meaningless. What's the point, if there are absolutely no consequences for breaking the law?
Oneida County supervisor Billy Fried
It wasn't too long ago that we downrated Mr. Fried for chiding Lakeland Times publisher Gregg Walker in a committee meeting, telling Walker he was upset because Walker was presenting certain facts that somehow painted county workers in a bad light. After all, Mr. Fried said, the committee chairman had been "gracious enough" to allow Walker to speak to the committee. So how dare he raise inconvenient facts?
These were not just any silly concerns. Mr. Walker was raising concerns about the way the sheriff's department handled the investigation of an alleged rape of an officer by another officer. Amazingly, the committee was not even aware of the allegation until The Times filed a lawsuit to obtain the investigatory records. The officer involved left the department but ended up working for another department, none of which would have been exposed had it been left up to the sheriff's department and the apparently misnamed public safety committee.
How serious was Mr. Walker's concerns? Well, that officer is now scheduled to stand trial for two counts of felony sexual assault. So the very idea that elected officials are "gracious" enough to "allow" citizens to speak at their meetings on matters of grave public concern is offensive to the notion of open government.
Well, we're happy to say Mr. Fried moves up, not so much for what he has said this past year but for what he didn't. That is to say, Mr. Fried has avoided conferring royal status on the county board, and thus helped sustain the notion that we still do live in a democracy.
C- Below average
Vilas County supervisor Erv Teichmiller
Teichmiller has been a Vilas County supervisor for several years now and certainly long enough to know when a reporter asks for a copy of a document discussed by a governing body in a public meeting, he should make sure that reporter gets what he or she is asking for.
It's then our job to write as part of whatever article published about that draft document to make sure we note it's a draft document.
That's part of our job and if that isn't done, we dropped the ball.
Over the course of the past few months, the transit commission has been in The Lakeland Times and Northwoods River News an awful lot.
Recently, Teichmiller has been trying to find a way to get three new buses the transit commission received in 2017 but have been sitting behind the NTC's Stephens Street office unused.
After getting some negative reaction from both Oneida and Vilas county government at committee level, he was finally able to get things worked out and those buses are expected to be on routes in April.
However, at a transit commission meeting in February, Teichmiller didn't want to share with the media.
The topic was the draft of a business plan, which he was asked for.
Teichmiller told our reporter he would not be giving out the documents and claimed state law allowed drafts to be withheld until approved.
"We can't pass this out until we've talked about it, it has to be edited and is still not for distribution," he said. "I don't want to have a battle with you (the media), but on the county level, it is a drafted item, we have a right to hang on to it until it is finalized. If this is an issue, we can talk about it but I am not going to give it to you."
Technically, Teichmiller is correct; under state open records law, drafts are, to a certain extent, exempt from these type of media requests.
In this case, though, the transit commission draft business plan wasn't exempt and The Lakeland Times was able to obtain the draft business plan.
However, that wasn't before Teichmiller criticized coverage given by The Lakeland Times, Northwoods River News and other media outlets.
"You don't report things as drafts," he said. "The last time we submitted copy of a policy, it was suddenly in print in the newspaper as policy."
We did some searching in our archives, trying to find just what it was Teichmiller was talking about.
Whatever Erv Teichmiller was referencing, it wasn't, as far as we could tell, anything published in The Lakeland Times or Northwoods River News in the past year or so and relating to the Oneida-Vilas Transit Commission.
He was even asked which articles he had issue with but didn't want to answer.
"I'd like to just drop it," Teichmiller said. "I don't want to pursue this anymore."
Contrary to what some may say, we do everything we can to be fair in our coverage of meetings of taxpayer supported, governing bodies like the Oneida-Vilas Transit Commission.
We're asking the same consideration from elected officials like Erv Teichmiller.
D Meets few expectations
Oneida County district attorney Michael Schiek
Over the years, the district attorney has had a funny way of finding people guilty of open meetings and open records infractions but deciding they don't deserve any punishment. What a deterrent!
This past year he did it again. After the county board put an illegal generic agenda item on its agenda for last March, unbelievably just a month after receiving training in following the open meetings law, Schiek determined that the item was indeed "inherently insufficient" under the state's open-meetings law.
But, once again, he didn't think anybody should be held accountable.
Schiek managed to find a technicality as a reason not to fine or cite the county board supervisors, but he missed the larger point. That point was, no matter any technicality, the mere listing of "other business" by itself with no topics or with no explanation that there would be no other business is illegal.
It's illegal because it provides a formalized platform for supervisors to insert business they don't have to or want to post. Such comments can be innocuous, but they could cause significant public harm, and that's why the agenda item was illegal.
And that's why county supervisors should have been fined, and especially since the board was advised at the very previous month's meeting that such items were not legally allowed. Attorney Lori Lubinsky informed the board in, of all things, a training session on open-meetings compliance that "it is a no-no," and they couldn't get away with it.
But Schiek let them get away with it.
UW System
The UW System is well known for operating in secrecy, from unveiling a budget hours before it is to be voted upon to maintaining a $1-billion slush fund under so-called program revenue balances. Now a new audit finds more transparency and oversight problems with the UW System's relationships with affiliated foundations.
To cite just one problem, the UW System didn't even report to auditors the full list of affiliated foundations to be reviewed in the audit. While the UW identified $36.5 million in payments from UW institutions to primary fundraising foundations and certain other affiliated organizations from July 2010 through January 2017, the auditors found $81.6 million in payments over that time period, or $45.1 million more than the amount UW System Administration identified.
That was just the tip of the iceberg. The UW has to go a long, long way to earn the trust of Wisconsin voters and taxpayers, and the latest audit tells us they are further away than ever, and still fundamentally failing when it comes to open government.
Presque Isle Town Board
This grade isn't a reflection of anything the town does or doesn't do with regard, in our experience, anyway, to open records and transparency in that respect. Town clerk Lorine Walters is very helpful when asked for information and indeed, there's no issue with getting copies of anything the town board discusses at its meetings.
No, the grade is more a reflection of maybe lack of knowledge as to how a town board meeting should be run.
Walters tries to let town chairman Marshall Reckard know when things are getting out of hand regarding extended discussions about items not on the agenda and so forth, but it continues to happen and as recently as the town board's March 1 meeting.
State open meetings law provides a little leeway when elected officials are talking about something not on an agenda, such as items they'd like to see on a future agenda.
Bringing up an item for discussion at a future meeting is one thing; launching into a discussion about it lasting more than a few minutes, if that, is quite another.
You do that often enough, and you may find yourself in open meetings law violation territory.
Articles published in The Lakeland Times about Presque Isle Town Board meetings in recent months tend to highlight some of these instances where some of these "extended discussions" about non-agenda items take place.
They also have highlighted some of the confusion that may exist with regard to conducting a posted meeting.
For example, in November, when the Presque Isle Town Board held its budget hearing, that meeting of town electors was to begin at 6 p.m. on a particular evening, according to the posted agenda.
Also according to the posted agenda, a regular meeting of the town board was to follow at 7 p.m.
The budget hearing was over by 6:30 p.m.
In many cases, towns will post the budget hearing time and make a note on that posting along the lines of "A regular meeting of the town board will immediately follow" or something like that, which keeps things legal.
However, the budget hearing and vote by Presque Isle town electors on the town's 2018 budget concluded by 6:30 p.m.
Pretty simple, right? Take a break, maybe use the restroom ... whatever the case.
But, instead of waiting until 7 p.m. to start the regular meeting as posted, the town board, without supervisor Carl Wolter, began.
He didn't attend the 6 p.m. meeting but showed up at around 6:50 p.m. for the regular town board meeting.
Wolter and other town residents ended up filing in at about that time because they all thought the regular meeting was at 7 p.m.
Imagine their surprise when they arrived and found themselves at least 20 minutes late for a meeting that wasn't supposed to begin for another 10 minutes.
What ended up happening was Reckard, with assistance from Walters and supervisor Cathy Logan Weber, went over what had been discussed to that point.
Glaring examples of quite possibly not being aware of how things are supposed to work could be found, again, at the most recent town board meeting on March 1.
Wolter, the town board's liaison with its economic development committee, asked to have one of the committee members - not an elected official but a member of the committee appointed at some point by the town chairman - give a report on the committee's latest activities.
It's fairly common to do that, actually; if a supervisor isn't able to make a committee meeting, he or she usually designates another committee member to brief the governing body.
However, Reckard, over Wolter's objections, wouldn't allow it.
"She sends out the emails for you to tell us what's going on," he told Wolter and expressed some concern about if he opened the floor for that person to speak, he'd have to do it for everyone in the audience.
Which wasn't the case, really, because they weren't at a point on the agenda designated for public comment.
That said, a town chairman does have the leeway to recognize anyone to speak at any point on an agenda item if he or she so chooses.
In this case, Reckard proceeded to tell Wolter he had no report.
You heard correctly - the town chairman, even though there was a report, told a supervisor he had no report.
That's not quite how it works and Reckard should know better than that.
The committee representative was there, her report probably wouldn't take more than a minute or two and then the meeting could proceed.
Problem solved.
We don't want to go as far as to say there were any open meetings laws broken with Reckard's method of handling that but as far as the appearance of openness and so forth for the people in the audience as well as residents of the town in general, it was, as Wolter told Reckard, a "bad policy."
Also at the March 1 meeting, and possibly even more baffling, was a motion and second made on an item but there was never a vote.
Then, on another item, there were two motions but no second.
It was, quite bluntly, a mess.
As a person sits through one of these Presque Isle Town Board meetings, a sense of not really knowing what's going to happen even if there is a posted agenda takes over as the meeting progresses.
The Wisconsin Towns Association is a resource towns like Presque Isle have at their disposal to help them clear up some of these miscues.
We suggest Weber and Wolter, elected to the town board in the spring of 2017, consult with WTA staff to determine what kind of footing they have as elected town officials when Reckard "lays down the law" in Presque Isle town board meetings. Reckard is the town chairman. His primary job in that capacity is to run the meeting.
He might want to visit with WTA staff as well.
They may be able to give him some pointers so as town chairman, he can maintain proper control of the meetings, as he should; set time limits and other parameters for people who'd like to address the town board in the public comment section, for example.
Maybe he could do that so he doesn't get himself in trouble at some point and doesn't come across, as some residents have said privately at different times, like a small town bully.
D-
The Wisconsin Supreme Court
Wisconsin attorney April Barker, an open-records lawyer who has represented many records' cases, including for The Lakeland Times and others, has done a good job of compiling the open-government sins of the state Supreme Court.
In Voces de la Frontera vs. Clarke, she pointed out, the high court denied a request by Voces de la Frontera to obtain unredacted copies of immigration detainer forms in the possession of the Milwaukee County sheriff. In the decision, the court focused on an interpretation of a federal immigration regulation rather than on the presumptions of openness enshrined in Wisconsin statutes.
In Democratic Party of Wisconsin vs. Wisconsin Department of Justice, the court ruled that the Department of Justice does not have to release videos of training sessions that it argued would give away sensitive information about law enforcement techniques.
Barker noted that the ruling was especially troubling because justice Rebecca Bradley suggested the partisan motivation of the requester could be taken into account.
More recently, the court disappointed open-records advocates when it ruled 5-2 that officials could delay the release of voter lists during union elections because those records could be used to harass eligible voters during those elections.
Again, the justices focused on the reason for the request, not on the public nature of the requests themselves, a sharp departure for a core open records principle: that an open record is open to anyone and for any reason.
The court avoids an F only because of Krueger vs. Appleton Area School District, in which the court determined that a school committee formed to review course materials was subject to the Wisconsin open meetings law.
One good decision is better than none, but this course is decidedly stacked against transparency.
F The failures
City of Rhinelander
While Rhinelander city administrator Keith Kost has been exceptionally fast responding to open records requests, phone calls and emails and has gone above and beyond in making sure the paper's coverage of the city's activities have been accurate, that cannot overcome the one glaring black mark against the city - the fact that the Northwoods River News is currently involved in a lawsuit against it for records pertaining to the personnel problems in the public works department. While the problems in that department seemed to have been resolved, the fact that there are still unanswered questions as to what happened and why, the release of these documents would go a long way in assuring city residents the problems truly are solved.
Attorney Brad Schimel and the Wisconsin Department of Justice
This past year, attorney general Brad Schimel went to court and won a ruling that he does not have to release Wisconsin Department of Justice training tapes. The attorney general argued that the tapes would reveal techniques used by law enforcement used to catch child predators.
However, as lower courts pointed out, those techniques were already in the public domain and so the tapes were not revealing anything not already known. It's just one example of Schimel's hostility to openness.
In another, The Lakeland Times filed an open-records complaint against the DOJ after the law enforcement agency redacted the names of employees and law-enforcement officers disciplined for various infractions.
The DOJ released the nature of the infractions, as well as the disciplinary measures meted out, but, in many of the instances, redacted employee names.
None of the reasons the department gives for withholding the names overcomes the right of the public to know the identities of public employees engaged in misconduct. Without the names, there is no accountability.
To be sure, the DOJ is employing rationales that have long been rejected by the courts, such as a blanket exception to the open-records law based on speculative impacts the agency says might be associated with release of the names.
In addition, the DOJ is making arbitrary decisions by withholding some names and releasing others. The agency claims that protected workers are low-level employees who have engaged in minor offenses, but our investigation did not always find that to be the case.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Let's get this out of the way right from the start: The DNR is a much more open agency than it used to be, especially during the dark, dark days of the Jim Doyle administration.
Back then, the agency kept a "do not respond" list for people it considered persistent or abusive or simply annoying. The next DNR secretary, Cathy Stepp, says she abandoned that list. But even under Stepp, the agency had a knack for burying information, such as various requests made by this newspaper for climate change information.
Still there was improvement. This year, however, there has been a backward step, for the agency remains obstructive when it comes to naming those involved in incidents of wrongdoing.
Take the case of now fired DNR ranger, Daniel Perry. The ranger was fired this past year for multiple incidents involving serious misconduct and unsafe behavior, including harassing a coworker while on duty, spraying window cleaner in a dog's water bowl, striking a co-worker's chair with an ax-like tool while she was sitting in it, rubbing pepper spray on a co-worker's car door handle, firing a pellet gun at state vehicles and at a coworker, and urinating on the tires of a co-worker's vehicle, among other things.
Perry also damaged state property and threw objects into the office ceiling fan on multiple occasions. The Times obtained his records in an open-records request.
However, while releasing those records, the DNR protected the names of witnesses in the investigation, redacting them from the documents even though at least one of those witnesses admitted to wrongdoing and another witness reported seeing others besides Perry engage in wrongdoing.
We have long maintained that, while changes have been made at the top of the agency during the Walker administration, DNR bureaucrats have continued to run amok across the state. The Perry case illustrates just how out of control some of these agents can be. Sadly, the DNR's impulse is to circle the wagons and protect them, not to expose them to the public and hold them accountable for their misdeeds.
For every Perry they throw under the bus, many others get protected.
Then there's new DNR secretary Dan Meyer. So far, he's a clean slate when it comes to openness at the agency, but we can't ignore just how anti-transparent he was as Republican legislator some years back. That the administration would tap him doesn't say much for making transparency a top priority at an agency in which there has always been a transparency problem.
Oneida County board chairman Dave Hintz and the entire Oneida County Board of Supervisors
We are not aware of any new infractions of the open-records and open-meetings laws by Oneida County elected officials this past year, but for a while it was hard to keep track of their violations, they were happening so fast.
Still, by continuing to employ one of the most anti-open government corporation counsel's in the state, if not in the country - that would be Brian Desmond, who sometimes thinks his name is Brian Despot - the board is complicit in promoting secret government. If they want to improve open government, and perhaps attract some real legal talent, they should get rid of him. Until they do, they fail.
Oneida County supervisor Bob Mott
Everyone knows Bob Mott is a liberal elite, and he spent much of last year proving it, especially when he sought to defy state law so the county would be able to enact onerous property rights restrictions on average citizens.
Then, last April, just after our last grades, Mott also expressed his disdain for the state's open meetings laws. Mott said then he should be able to break the law precisely because he's not an expert and might not know what's right or wrong.
"As a committee chairman, I am not an expert in the law and be able to look at an agenda and say, 'Yeah, by law, this is OK,'" Mott said at an administration committee meeting. "We can't even get the attorney general's office to give us an opinion. How am I, as an individual, as the head of a department - chair of a department - supposed to look at it and say by law, 'Are all things OK there?' We can't even get an opinion."
Well, one way might be to actually read what the law says. Another might be to embrace the spirit of the law, if he cannot understand the letter of it. Mr. Mott does not, and he fails the open-government test.
Wisconsin Counties Association, Wisconsin Towns Association, Wisconsin League of Municipalities, Wisconsin Association of School Boards.
We said it last year and we'll say it again. If ever there were four organizations that should not exist, these are the four: Wisconsin Counties Association, Wisconsin Towns Association, Wisconsin League of Municipalities, and Wisconsin Association of School Boards.
For one thing, towns, villages, cities, and counties are all creatures of the state; their existence depends on laws enacted by the state. There are some home rule powers for cities and villages, but the main job of these units of government is to provide services and serve as administrative arms of the state. So why do they need to form an interest group to lobby the state? As a creature and subordinate of the state, they should not be lobbying the state for anything, and, in doing so, they are in fact lobbying against the public interest.
And what have they been lobbying for? Well, for one thing, more secretive government. These groups have all put great time and effort into various bids to end the requirement that public notices be published in newspapers. That is a decision they should decidedly not have a hand in.
On the federal level lobbying by government agencies is outlawed; these units of government are essentially state agencies by virtue of their relationship to state government, and they shouldn't be lobbying, either. When they do, they are almost certain not to lobby for the people so much as for the public officials themselves. That's why they formed an interest group for themselves, and that means they'll be lobbying for ever more secrecy, as they are doing with the public-notice legislation.
And while the Association of School Boards is different structurally from the others in its relationship to the state, the same lobbying principle goes for it, too. It's a bold conflict of interest.
This year the Wisconsin Counties Association held a meeting to "educate" elected officials about various aspects of mining. Only, until they were called on it, they wanted to exclude the public from this session, which was attended by a quorum of multiple government committees, making the whole thing an open meeting.
These organizations do not have the public interest at stake; they are a club of elected officials devoted to furthering their own agendas and longevity. It is high time these groups be called out for the special interests that they are.
F- The worst of the worst
The Wisconsin Legislature
As a whole, the Wisconsin Legislature is a miserable failure when it comes to transparency, and has been for many years. No matter which party is in control, the Legislature makes many promises of transparency but very seldom follows through.
For years we have pointed out that the Legislature is not subject to the open records retention law, meaning they can destroy records any time they want.
So if you happen to ask for a record while a lawmaker still has it, it's your lucky day, but if he or she has thrown it out the day before, well, they don't care!
We have also reported this week on the Legislature's insistence on printing requested electronic records and charging requesters for the printed copies, rather than just giving them out for free in electronic form.
This is simply illegal, but it does show the true colors of this body: They want to govern and operate, and wheel and deal, in secret. To them, the people's business is none of the people's business.
Add in mail balloting, and the refusal of the Legislature to release records related to charges of alleged sexual harassment, never mind that sensitive information and identifiers could be redacted, and you have a hot mess in the Legislature when it comes to open government.
Oneida County corporation counsel Brian Desmond
Oneida County corporation counsel Brian Desmond did not figure prominently in any major open-records cases this past year, but he certainly did nothing that would indicate that his past hatred of open government has changed.
Boulder Junction town chairman Dennis Reuss and Boulder Junction supervisors Denny McGann and Wes Johnson
For starters, Reuss and McGann were two of the three players in the open meetings violation that resulted in an illegal $8,700 pay out for the town clerk, who decidedly did not deserve such a pay out. They were found guilty of that.
Then, too, The Lakeland Times filed a complaint against the town board for what The Times believes is a variation of a walking quorum in which town board members used email communications to conduct town business.
Specifically we believe the town board used emails to reach a decision regarding the town board's involvement in an ad hoc electors' committee that was studying the town clerk/treasurer's position. After the town clerk consulted with the Wisconsin Towns Association and distributed that advice to town board members, the town board members used emails to express their opinions and take positions, with a quorum effectively deciding against any involvement.
No matter if that is ever to be found a violation of the law; it is certainly bad practice and a violation of the spirit of the law. Those discussions should have taken place at an open meeting in which the public could attend and provide input. This is not an unimportant matter, because a group of citizens wanted the town board's involvement in the contentious issue of studying the clerk/treasurer's position.
Indeed, as meeting minutes show, a Boulder Junction resident twice asked the board to form an official town committee to study the matter. In the two days following the first request, at a meeting in which no action was taken and no discussion allowed, the town made a decision via email not to get involved. In effect, they debated and decided a public request in private.
Boulder Junction town clerk Kendra Moraczewski
In each of the most egregious open-meetings cases against the Boulder Junction town board, Ms. Moraczewski has been a central figure. In the case of the illegal closed session, Moraczewski was not guilty of the infraction, but she was the recipient of the $8,700 pay out. There are a number of reasons we feel she flunks the transparency test in this case.
First, she should have realized that she was not entitled to the pay out and informed the board. It's possible that she did so in the illegal closed session, of course, but then why would the town board give it to her anyway and why would she accept it?
What's more, as the town clerk and the custodian of town records, she should be well-versed in open meetings and open records laws. As such she should have known that convening in closed session was illegal and informed the board.
Even worse, since the meeting was found to be illegal, and the vote to pay her the money voided, she has made no public statement that we are aware of about her intentions to keep the money or pay it back. Full transparency demands she let voters know whether she intends to keep her ill-gotten gains, if she can get away with it.
On the second issue, that of an alleged walking quorum in which town board members used email communications to conduct town business, we believe Ms. Moraczewski was an active player. Indeed, we believe her own emails show that she was aware that town board members were not supposed to be discussing the issue via email and that she tried to devise a way for board members to do so in an attempt to circumvent the law.
If there is a road to open government, it does not run through Boulder Junction these days. That's sad, given the past history of good and open government in that town. The current town board of Boulder Junction and Ms. Moraczewski have put a stain on Boulder Junction that will take years to cleanse.
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