Media & Advocacy Groups Sue for Access to Wisc. Guv's Emails

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe Courthouse News Service today reported that Associated Press, Isthmus Publishing Co., and citizens' advocacy group, One Wisconsin Now, have sued under the Badger State's Open Records Act [Wisc. Stat. Secs. 19.31-19.39] for access to embattled GOP Gov. Scott Walker's Emails, which he claims largely back his Budget Repair Bill ("BRB") that derailed public employees' collective bargaining rights and other union benefits.

The nonprofit One Wisconsin Now alleges that Gov. Walker's office informed it that a fee of $31,000 would be assessed to reproduce the 8,000-plus BRB-related Emails Gov. Walker claims to have received. A hearing is slated for March 21 in Dane County Superior Court on the records request by AP and Isthmus, which publishes a weekly newspaper and operates thedailypage.com Web site. 

Pursuant to Wisc. Stat. Sec. 19.35(1)(a), subject to certain exemptions, "any requester has a right to inspect any (public) record."