Sunshine: Wisconsin Republicans' secret briefings to sidestep open meetings law

MADISON – Republicans on the Legislature’s budget committee will meet in private next week with top officials from Gov. Scott Walker’s administration — prompting criticism from excluded Democrats who say the meetings should be held in public.

“The problem of private meetings is we don’t know why they’re being held or what’s being discussed,” said Rep. Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh), a member of the budget committee.

Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), the co-chairwoman of the Joint Finance Committee, said the gatherings would include less than a majority of the committee and so would not violate the state’s open meetings law.

The planned meetings with members of the Republican governor’s administration came to light during Sunshine Week, which emphasizes the importance of government transparency.

Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, said there may be no way to stop the meetings but lawmakers should be willing to remain in the public’s eye.

“What are they saying to each other behind closed doors that they are so ashamed of?” he said. “Why can’t they just do the public’s business in the light of day? It’s really contemptuous of the public.”

Hintz said there was no good reason to keep the meetings private, which are occurring a week before the full committee will get public briefings from the officials.

“I think it’s mostly being done because it provides them an opportunity to ask real questions they may not feel comfortable asking in public,” Hintz said.

Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said it is common for lawmakers and officials from any administration to meet privately to talk about budget issues.

“Agency secretaries will testify publicly before the full committee as has been done in every budget under Governor Walker,” he said in a statement. “The Democrats’ claim is ridiculous.”

Darling said Democrats should schedule their own meetings to get answers to their questions. Hintz said if they did that they would like to hold those meetings in the open.

A 2011 decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court makes it easy for lawmakers to sidestep the open meetings law. That gives them opportunities to meet in private that local officials don’t have.

The upcoming meetings are not the only ones bothering Democrats.

Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee this month met privately with officials from the state Department of Employee Trust Funds and Segal Consulting to discuss Walker’s plans to move public employees to a self-funded insurance system.

That idea has met resistance from legislative Democrats and Republicans alike.

Separately, the Assembly Corrections Committee recently put together plans for tours of the state’s juvenile prison without having to allow reporters or other members of the public to come along.