MADISON, Wis. – So much for transparency.
Back in November when Governor Tony Evers’ secret “warren.spahn@wisconsin.gov” account first came to light, the Governor’s office assured the public they were hiding nothing and promised to make all correspondence from said account available via Open Records request.
From Wisconsin State Journal:
“All email correspondence are subject to, searched, and provided as responsive as required under Wisconsin’s Open Records law and, in fact, in every instance in which our office has provided such responsive records, we have explicitly made requesters aware of these addresses, and the purpose of their redaction, in providing responsive records,” Cudaback said.
Governor Evers himself promised the public that the emails would be made available upon request. “If people want to know what I said in my emails, they can do an Open Records request and get it,” said Evers.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin decided to take Evers up on his offer and filed an Open Records request for all communications from the Warren Spahn account.
Flash forward almost four months, Evers’ office has finally responded to our Open Records filing and declined to hand over a single email.
Despite their assurances that all correspondence from the Warren Spahn email account would be made available, Evers team is passing the buck and narrowing the scope of what they will share. They did not pledge to make some or most of the emails available. “All correspondence” was their promise, a promise they are now breaking.
“After ignoring the WisGOP’s Open Records request for 115 days, Governor Evers’ office is now going back on their promise of complete transparency with the Warren Spahn email account. Wisconsinites deserve the full and honest truth about Governor Evers’ secret email address. The Republican Party of Wisconsin intends to resubmit its request with multiple Open Records filings encompassing all correspondence from the Warren Spahn account.” —WisGOP Spokesperson Matt Fisher