Wednesday was a big day
This past Wednesday (April 15) was an important day for me, the college press and open government in Wisconsin. Why? I’ll explain via timeline:
10:45 a.m.: Watched oral arguments in Madison at the WI Supreme Court for Journal Sentinel v. Wis. Dept. of Administration, the public records law case examining whether a collective bargaining agreement for some state employees that says the names of employees cannot be released to the media trumps Wisconsin’s Public Records Law. (Here’s the court of appeals certification, RCFP amicus brief, and Journal Sentinel coverage) The opening of the newspaper’s argument included reference to the Wisconsin Supreem Court case County of Jefferson v. Besley – which is said to be the nation’s first freedom of information law. I first learned of this case while reading a Marquette Law Review article on Wisconsin’s public records law this past fall. Here’s the pertinent part:
“In 1856 the Wisconsin Supreme Court declared that wood for heating and candles for lighting must be provided so that citizens could comfortably transact business and examine all books and papers required to be kept in the clerk of court’s office.” – Linda de la Mora, The Wisconsin Public Records Law, 67 Marq. L. Rev. (1983); County of Jefferson v. Besley
The controversy was so basic back in 1856: heat and light. Today, the issues are about e-mail retention systems, e-meetings, and whether e-mail is a proper form of filing a records request. Anyway, the newspapers introduced their argument with this case, and I couldn’t help but smile. (Here’s some background info on the Besley case. I also randomly quoted it in an earlier blog post.)
12:25 p.m.: Delivered the request for a formal attorney general opinion and met with three attorneys from the AG’s office. It was supposed to happen at noon, but court ran late. The request asked the attorney general if student government organizations’s at UW System institutions are subject to Wisconsin’s Public Records and Open Meetings laws.
The rest of the afternoon: The AG request cultivated a solid amount of media attention, thus I was fielding phone calls from interested reporters. Thank you AP, Wisconsin State Journal, Journal Sentinel Education Blog, Wisconsin Public Radio, Daily Cardinal, Badger Herald, Student Press Law Center, PantherVision, UWM Post, and NFOIC for coverage! I at least know the AP story was printed in the Wisconsin State Journal because I picked up a copy, and it also ran in the Green Bay Press Gazette (my parents are holding on to one for me). Most of the distribution, though, was probably online.
