Reporters use open records law to expose corruption, scandal and truth

By Talia Pines

When Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Patrick Marley got a tip that Wisconsin Commerce Secretary was spending state money on personal travel, he did what any good reporter would do. He filed a request under Wisconsin’s open records law.

“The law is pretty simple to use and I just made a request,” Marley said.

Marley, the state capital bureau reporter for the Journal Sentinel, filed a request about former Wisconsin Commerce Secretary Jack Fischer’s travel expenses. He received the documents a few weeks later. Without the records, Marley was operating on rumor.

While all citizens have the right to view public documents, Marley points out that journalists have the time and ability to seek out records. Journalists incorporate the open records law into their everyday lives, “but at the end of the day it’s really for the public at large,” Marley said.

Upon receiving travel records, Marley found evidence to support the speculations that Fischer and his administrative travel partner Deborah Godt improperly charged personal expenses on state credit cards. His initial story on July 6, 2008, showed, for example, that on a business trip to Ireland in March, Fischer and Godt charged a $520 dry-cleaning bill on state credit cards.

In less than a three-month period that spring and shortly after Gov. Jim Doyle put limits on government travel, Fischer and Godt billed $21,282 to the state for international trips to Ireland and the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and Canada. In all three cases, Fischer and Godt extended their stays and inappropriately expensed the state.

Marley points out that his original findings allowed his story to advance in unplanned ways.

“Records that generate one story will lead to new stories,” Marley said. “The first records showed Fischer’s international travel. After that I looked at his U.S. travel, which turned up the records about hiring a limo.”

The domestic records show, among other illegal uses of state money, in a less than 24-hour trip to the Twin Cities in January, Fischer hired a limousine instead of taking any alternate transportation. This expense cost taxpayers $561.

When the Journal Sentinel began requesting Fischer’s travel documents, Fischer and Godt reimbursed the state on select charges. On July 16, Fischer resigned from his position after the Journal Sentinel published information on his spending abroad.

Marley has worked on a number of other stories that resulted in governmental change and encouraged lawmakers to rethink rules. Last year, The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council honored Marley for a story exposing state employees who failed to document sick days to increase funds to put toward health care benefits upon their retirement. After his investigations went public, strict sick leave rules were put in effect so to avoid future manipulation of this law.

Like Marley, Wisconsin State Journal reporter Dee J. Hall uses the state’s open records law as a key journalistic tool.

“It’s one of the few ways that the public, the public and the media, have of basically forcing the government to tell us what they are up to. I mean, you can ask a question and they can simply not tell you, or tell you something that is not true,” Hall said. “This is sort of the proof in the pudding so to speak—when you get open records that show what actually happen in a situation, not just what they tell you happened.”

In 2001, Hall was part of a team of reporters who investigated the illegal activity of state employees who campaigned for political candidates and parties on state time. The Wisconsin State Journal stories placed first in the Sigma Delta Chi Awards for Excellence in Journalism.

Hall started working on this case after witnessing questionable actions while covering another story.

“I just observed some behavior while I was covering an assembly district race that appeared to involve a legislative employee who seemed to be working on the clock, you know on the taxpayers dime, but also running a legislative race, and I didn’t understand how you could do that,” Hall said.

This series called, “Caucuses: Secret Campaign Machines” was made possible by the hundreds of documents and phone call records the reporters received through an open records request. The Journal’s findings show employees at four legislative caucuses secretly campaigned on state time and with state resources from the caucuses.

The employees of the four caucuses, the Senate Democratic Caucus (SDC), Senate Republican Caucus (SRC), Assembly Democratic Caucus (ADC) and the Assembly Republican Caucus (ARC), were partaking in popular but unethical acts. Upon publication of the Journal’s investigation, the four caucuses were shut down.

In addition to the closing of the caucuses, as a result of Hall’s work people were criminally charged and legislative leaders stepped down.

Hall adds, “There were new work rules at the legislature explicitly prohibiting employees from working on campaigns while they were being paid by the state of Wisconsin.”

Hall also worked on a series of open records investigations involving Bob D’Angelo beginning in spring 2005. The former Overture Center president, and extremely prominent public figure, was misbehaving in more ways than one.

Hall became interested in D’Angelo when she was giving a speech to a small group of free-lance journalists, and one of the women told her she was sexually harassed by D’Angelo. Hall used open records to look into D’Angelo’s personal affairs. She found allegations of sexual harassment from other women, including two of his interns. Furthermore, Hall found that D’Angelo took advantage of his position as president by using company benefits to advance his personal life. Aware that Hall was on to his personal and business scandals, D’Angelo resigned from his position.

Use of Wisconsin’s open records law goes beyond the sphere of professional journalism, as well.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison campus newspaper, the Badger Herald, did a series of articles on a controversial campus lecturer, Kevin Barrett who was endlessly criticized by state legislators and other prominent community members for his theory that the United States government was behind the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The university was also highly criticized for employing Barrett.

Herald writer Tom Schalmo recognized the controversy surrounding Barrett’s employment for UW and was curious to know the student opinion.

“It was really just administrators and legislators who said he had no right to teach at the university, and we were pretty confident the university would not have hired him if he were not qualified,” Schalmo said. “And we thought the one voice that had not come out at this point was the student voice.”

After a semester of much scrutiny, the Badger Herald filed an open records request for the anonymous student evaluations from Barrett’s Fall 2006 languages and cultures of Asia class. Based on the 105 obtained student evaluations, on February 13, 2007 Schalmo shared the student voice with the public.
 
Sixty-seven of the evaluations had written comments. Of the 67, 49 evaluations commented positively on the lecturer. The general opinion was that the class did not focus on Barrett’s theory, and that Barrett did not try to force his views onto his students. Eighteen evaluations contained negative feedback, but only one focused on his conspiracy theory.  This student wrote, “ Barrett’s main goal was to promote his theory, sadly.”

The course evaluations show that 70 percent of students selected “personal interest” as their reason for enrolling in the course. Fifteen percent chose “instructor’s reputation” and 10 percent marked “requirement.”

Contrary to the popular voice on campus, the evaluations spoke favorably of Barrett.

“Students seemed to have actually learned from this guy and seemed to have actually gotten stuff out of the class,” Schalmo said. “And regardless of his beliefs outside the class, it seems like the class he taught was not a waste of time or anything like that.”

Schalmo interviewed university staff about his findings, and while they recognize the students’ positive reviews, Barrett was not asked to return to campus.

The Herald is currently working on an open records story involving the UW Marching Band, which was suspended on October 3 due to hazing allegations. 

The Wisconsin open records law allows these journalists to discover vital facts that often influence the larger community. Marley, Hall and Schalmo are in the company of other great journalists who realize the value of using documentary sources to advance their work.

Marley recognizes the importance of the open records law. 

“It’s an absolutely essential law for journalist,” he said.