And it keeps heating up in Wisconsin surrounding Collective Bargaining. Did Cronan hit a little too close too Home in his op ed piece?
William Cronon , a University of Wisconsin Professor published an Op ed piece in The New York Times alleging that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which tries to engineer right-wing policies in state legislatures, is behind the Wisconsin anti-union push. Shortly after the Article was published, University of Wisconsin’s attorneys received a request from the Wisconsin GOP, Under the state open records law, for copies of Cronon’s emails sent from his state account at the university. The Wisconsin GOP asked for Cronon-authored personal emails that contain a range of union-related keywords, such as “AFSCME,” “collective bargaining,” “recall,” etc.
The Wisconsin GOP is apparently using the state’s open records law to request personal emails of a university professor who criticized Walker and Republicans.
Cronan's Response -
“They’re trying to intimidate me. Intimidating people from asking legitimate questions is a McCarthyite tactic.”
Cronon says the Wisconsin GOP will not find evidence of what they’re looking for. “It’s not there,” he says.
Now, 'personal' is up for some reasonable debate here. This is his university email. And he's a Professor at the University of Wisconsin, the state university. So he's a state employee. Still, he's not an elected official or someone doing public business in the sense you'd ordinarily understand the term. Nor are they looking at anything tied to the administration of the University, which is legitimately a public matter. In the ordinary sense we tend to understand the word it's his personal email. And the range of requested documents leave no doubt about what they're after.
Here's the request -
From: Stephan Thompson [mailto:SThompson@wisgop.org]
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 2:37 PM
To: Dowling, John
Subject: Open Records Request
Dear Mr. Dowling,
Under Wisconsin open records law, we are requesting copies of the following items:
Copies of all emails into and out of Prof. William Cronon's state email account from January 1, 2011 to present which reference any of the following terms: Republican, Scott Walker, recall, collective bargaining, AFSCME, WEAC, rally, union, Alberta Darling, Randy Hopper, Dan Kapanke, Rob Cowles, Scott Fitzgerald, Sheila Harsdorf, Luther Olsen, Glenn Grothman, Mary Lazich, Jeff Fitzgerald, Marty Beil, or Mary Bell.
We are making this request under Chapter 19.32 of the Wisconsin state statutes, through the Open Records law. Specifically, we would like to cite the following section of Wis. Stat. 19.32 (2) that defines a public record as "anything recorded or preserved that has been created or is being kept by the agency. This includes tapes, films, charts, photographs, computer printouts, etc."
Thank you for your prompt attention, and please make us aware of any costs in advance of preparation of this request.
Sincerely,
Stephan Thompson
Republican Party of Wisconsin
