MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Wisconsin Transparency Project is suing Gov. Tony Evers on behalf of WITI-TV over his reluctance to release emails to the Milwaukee station under the state’s open records law.
Evers released a day’s worth of emails after initially denying the station’s request. Evers was criticized by open records advocates for initially rejecting the reporter’s request because it was not limited to a specific subject.
The station’s reporter first asked for four weeks of emails, then narrowed that to a week after Evers rebuffed the first inquiry. His staff attorneys said turning over a bloc of emails is too burdensome.
Evers’ legal counsel said the office was releasing the governor’s emails from a single day because it was making an exception to a portion of the public records law that says a request for records “is deemed sufficient if it reasonably describes the requested record or the information requested.”
“Governor Evers’ denial is unlawful,” said Tom Kamenick, the Transparency Project’s president. “State law requires requesters to provide a limitation on either time frame or subject matter, not both. And even if they do need both, the subject matter of this request was emails to and from two identified people. That’s more than specific enough to satisfy the law.”
Evers spokesman Britt Cudaback said the governor “is committed to complying with state law and guidance from current and past attorneys general while ensuring transparency and accountability for the people of Wisconsin.”
The Transparency Project is a law firm dedicated to enforcing open records and open meetings laws.
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