(The Center Square) – Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson announced Friday that he won’t be running for governor and that he is endorsing Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany for the post.
Thompson is the state’s longest-serving governor and a former president of the University of Wisconsin system and United States Secretary of Health.
“I have spent my entire career fighting for my neighbors, my country, and my state,” Thompson said in a statement. “I love Wisconsin, and growing up in Elroy instilled in me the values that shaped my time as governor. Tom Tiffany comes from those same Wisconsin roots. From his upbringing on a dairy farm in Elmwood to his service today, he knows our communities and what it takes to lead.
“Tom will build on the education, welfare, and tax reforms we started here in Wisconsin. The State has to keep reforming and moving forward. That’s why I am endorsing Tom today. At this critical moment, he is the right leader for Wisconsin’s future, and I look forward to campaigning for him and all Republicans across the state this November.”
Tiffany is the Republican frontrunner looking to take over for Democrat Tony Evers, who announced he is not running for reelection. The Democratic race has a large number of candidates, including Francesca Hong, D-Madison along with former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, businessman Joel Brennan, state Rep. Kelda Roys and former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. CEO Missy Hughes.
“Governor Thompson’s leadership has left an incredible legacy on Wisconsin, and generations of Wisconsinites are better off because of his service,” Tiffany said in a statement. “We are just two kids from Elroy and Elmwood who believe in Wisconsin’s potential, and it’s an honor to have his endorsement.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin state Rep. Jessie Rodriguez, R-Oak Creek, announced that she would not run for reelection while Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield, said that he will be running to retain his seat.
Rodriguez said that she was retiring after first joining the state Assembly in 2013 in a special election. She represented the 21st district.
“Throughout my time in office, I have tried to keep family first,” Rodriguez said. “But the truth is, it is difficult to do this job well without it affecting the people who care about you most. My family has given me patience, encouragement, and support through long days, busy weeks, and many moments when this work required more of me than they deserved to lose.”
Dylan Pfaffenbach, who lives in Oak Creek, announced Friday that he would be running for the 21st District seat.
Pfaffenbach said he will prioritize increasing health-care price transparency, improving Wisconsin’s education system and securing our neighborhood’s safety for our families along with affordability.
“I’d like to thank Rep. Jessie Rodriguez for her more than a decade of service to the community. Her leadership in the Assembly will be sorely missed,” Pfaffenbach said in a statement. “I’m running because families across our community are being squeezed by rising every-day costs that make life more difficult. Rising utility rates, the cost of homeownership, and the never-ending property tax hikes are preventing us from reaching our full potential. Wisconsin needs fresh leadership that not only listens to residents but offers new and practical solutions.”
Donovan has been an advocate for eliminating emissions testing in Wisconsin in the seven-county non attainment zone.
“Milwaukee County needs a strong advocate in Madison who delivers real results on the issues that matter most, including public safety and common-sense relief for hardworking families,” Donovan said in a statement announcing his reelection campaign. “Over the past session, I have fought tirelessly to protect our communities by securing critical resources for Milwaukee County’s public safety, passing tough new laws to tow reckless drivers off our streets, and pushing for an end to the outdated and burdensome vehicle emissions testing program that has taxed southeast Wisconsin drivers for far too long.”
WisDems Chair Devin Remiker pointed to election results in Michigan on Tuesday as an indication why Rodriguez became the 15th legislative Republican to announce that he or she would not run for reelection.
“Rodriguez is joining 14 of her Republican colleagues in retirement, seeing the writing on the wall following Chris Taylor’s historic Supreme Court victory, Republican leadership abandoning ship, and Democrats continuing to overperform across the country,” Remiker said in a statement. “They know that they can’t outrun the ever-worsening cost crisis that Donald Trump and Republicans are driving with their disastrous agenda. To those like Bob Donovan and Shannon Zimmerman who have decided to run again, you have 23 days to retire or you will be fired by the voters in November. Your leaders and colleagues know what is coming and it is not the cavalry; it is only defeat.”

(The Center Square) – A temporary restraining order was granted Friday that will block Milwaukee from starting its food truck curfew Saturday.
The motion was granted to put the curfew on hold until at least June 10, when the next court proceeding will occur.
The ruling came after the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed a lawsuit on behalf of Abdallah Ismail, owner of the Fatty Patty food trucks, seeking to block the 10 p.m. food truck curfew on Saturday that also included an 11 p.m. curfew at Burnham Park.
“It’s good,” Ismail said after the ruling. “It’s a month, not like the five days we were expecting. It’s really good.”
The lawsuit argued that the new law interfered with Ismail’s ability to make a living and that it arbitrarily treats food trucks on Water Street differently than bars and restaurants in the area.
“By aggressively limiting hours of sale while simultaneously keeping brick and mortar restaurants open, the city is violating the rights of our client,” WILL Associate Counsel Kirsten Atanasoff said in a statement when the lawsuit was filed. “WILL is proud to help this small business owner oppose the city’s senseless policy.”
Alderman Bob Bauman previously said that the ordinance was necessary to control crime and “food trucks are a significant cause of the disorder that is taking place on Water Street, especially among underage individuals who can’t even patronize the bars.”

(The Center Square) – A computer hack has changed the last week of classes at some University of Wisconsin campuses.
The university on Thursday announced that a nationwide hack of the Canvas system has disrupted final exams.
“A nationwide security incident at Instructure is disrupting Canvas across higher education, including at UW–Madison. As we know more, we will share it promptly,” the university said in a statement.
Canvas is a national hub for tests, grades and study guides.
UW-Madison provost John Zumbrunnen said without Canvas some professors are being told to cancel final exams.
“If you are unable to administer your final exam or you feel students cannot prepare adequately without access to Canvas, you should use an alternative option, such as basing grades on work completed so far,” Zumbrunnen said in a statement. “You are encouraged to consult with your department chair, academic dean’s office or other colleagues as you weigh the options.”
The hack is also delaying final grades.
Typically, UW-Madison professors need to have final grades finished by May 11. The university said it is pushing that deadline back to May 14.
The Canvas hack, however, is not just causing problems with grades and final exams. There are worries about security across the UW as well.
“If Canvas prompts you to perform any action — such as clicking a link, logging in, resetting your password, or completing any tasks — do not proceed,” UW-Madison told students in a warning on the school’s IT information page.
Canvas first reported a hack May 1, saying it included student names, email addresses and ID numbers. The hack did not include passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers or financial information.
UW leaders have not said how many students may have been exposed at the campus in Madison. Other UW schools have also been silent so far about the impact of the hack on their students.

(The Center Square) – A lawsuit was filed on Thursday seeking to block Milwaukee’s 10 p.m. food truck curfew, set to begin Saturday.
The curfew will begin at 11 p.m. at Burnham Park. The food truck curfew is an attempt to curb crime in the city.
The lawsuit, seeking an emergency stay of the new law before it begins, was filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on behalf of Abdallah Ismail, owner of the Fatty Patty food trucks.
“This ordinance is going to shut down small businesses and provide less affordable food options to workers and residents of our city,” Ismail said in a statement. “Food truck owners create good food and provide a real service, but the city has made us into scapegoats for violence and crime. This cannot stand.”
The lawsuit argues that the new law interferes with Ismail’s ability to make a living and that it arbitrarily treats food trucks on Water Street differently than bars and restaurants in the area.
Alderman Bob Bauman previously said that the ordinance was necessary to control crime and “food trucks are a significant cause of the disorder that is taking place on Water Street, especially among underage individuals who can’t even patronize the bars.”
“By aggressively limiting hours of sale while simultaneously keeping brick and mortar restaurants open, the city is violating the rights of our client,” WILL Associate Counsel Kirsten Atanasoff said in a statement. “WILL is proud to help this small business owner oppose the city’s senseless policy.”

(The Center Square) – A Milwaukee woman is being accused of defrauding Wisconsin’s Medicaid program out of nearly $2.2 million and using the proceeds to buy Kitt’s Frozen Custard in Milwaukee, along with an Octopus Car Wash and a Mercedes Benz AMG S63.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice filed charges against 44-year-old Debbie Long of Milwaukee, accusing her of funneling funds through shell companies to conceal the alleged fraudulent transactions from Pinnacle Home Health Care, where Long is owner and administrator.
Long is accused of billing for almost $2.2 million by billing for personal care services which did not take place.
She is charged with theft by fraud and fraud against a financial institution greater than $100,000 along with wire fraud and money laundering over $100,000.
“Public benefit programs rely upon tax dollars to provide critical services,” Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a statement. “It is critical to protect the integrity of these programs.”
Long is also accused of fraudulently obtaining a $219,072 Paycheck Protection Program loan from the federal government by inflating the size of Pinnacle’s payroll and workforce.
The investigation was led by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Medicaid Fraud Control and Elder Abuse Unit and Division of Criminal Investigation along with assistance from the Greenfield Police Department.

(The Center Square) – Election managers in Madison and Dane county are now facing a second lawsuit over ballot counting problems in Madison.
The law firm Law Forward filed a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of two voters who may not have their ballots from the April election counted because those ballots were delivered to the polls late.
Madison’s clerk said a clerk’s office employee was delayed in getting the ballots to the polls before Wisconsin’s 8 p.m. deadline.
“These voters did everything Wisconsin law asked of them, and the city and county properly counted their ballots,” Law Forward President Jeff Mandell said in a statement. “Their votes were cast, received, and counted on Election Day. WEC is now trying to erase them from the record because of a clerical error these voters had absolutely no control over. Failing to count these absentee votes will only erode trust in our elections and jeopardize access to voting in future elections. It’s critical that the court take urgent action to ensure these votes are counted.”
Wisconsin law requires all ballots to be at their polling places by 8 p.m. Madison’s clerk has not said why 23 ballots were late, but said the person tasked with delivering them was “delayed.”
The Wisconsin Elections Commission last month said the late ballots should not be counted. Madison and Dane County’s Board of Canvassers this week voted to appeal that decision.
Still, it may be difficult to un-count the votes. Madison’s clerk has said poll workers did not track the late ballots, and so 20 random ballots would have to be “drawn down.”
This is the second lawsuit from Law Forward involving Madison’s election managers and mishandled ballots.
Law Forward is also driving the lawsuit for nearly 200 voters who saw their votes go uncounted in the November 2024 election. Those ballots were found after Election Day, but Madison’s former clerk never pushed to have them counted.
Law Forward is asking for a decision in the late ballots case before next week’s deadline to certify the April election results.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin saw an unemployment rate drop in 65 of its 72 counties in March with all 13 metropolitan areas and 30 of the largest 35 cities in the state seeing unemployment drops as well.
That comes as the overall state unemployment rate rose to 3.5% in the month, below the national rate of 4.2%.
The state’s lowest unemployments rates were in Calumet (2.9%), Dane (3.0%), Green (3.2%), Kewaunee (3.2%), Lafayette (3.2%), Ozaukee (3.2%) and Sheboygan (3.2%) counties.
The highest rates were in Iron (7.8%), Burnett (7.7%) and Polk (7.5%) counties with the rest of the counties sitting below 7%.
The overall numbers showed that there were 17,200 less employed in nonfarm jobs in March as opposed to the year before while there were 18,800 less service jobs and 7,700 less government employees in the state with 4,500 less employed in local government, 2,100 less federal employees and 1,100 less employed in state government.
Manufacturing jobs were down 5,200 year over year while there was a 6,900 employee increase in private education and health services.
Fitchburg (2.7%) was the Wisconsin city with the lowest unemployment rate, followed by Madison (2.9%), Sun Prairie (3.1%) and Mequon (3.2%) amongst the states’ 35 largest cities. Racine (6.0%) had the highest rate, followed by Milwaukee (5.3%), Superior (5.2%), Beloit (5.1%) and West Allis (4.7%).

(The Center Square) – While those supporting sales tax breaks for data center projects say they believe the breaks are necessary to compete for projects amongst the 38 states that currently offer the incentives, a growing number of state Legislatures are considering whether the tax breaks are worth the benefits.
Wisconsin congressman and candidate for governor Tom Tiffany has declared that he intends to end data center tax breaks if elected. A recent report from Wisconsin’s Legislative Audit Bureau shows that the state will forego $1.5 billion in sales tax to four data center projects in initially construction and then $369 million more annually once the projects are completed.
Wisconsin’s exemption, enacted in the 2023-25 budget, applies to everything from property purchases to computer servers and energy systems at the site to electricity and cooling systems.
The exemptions apply to Microsoft’s $20.6 billion in data centers in Wisconsin along with OpenAI, Oracle and Vantage Data Centers’ $15 billion in data center investments in Port Washington. Epic Hosting’s $347 million project in Verona and Meta’s $1 billion project in Beaver Dam are also included.
Virginia sales tax breaks, estimated to be worth $1.6 billion and $1.9 billion annually, are currently at the center of budget discussions in the state while a new Pennsylvania bill would end the sales tax breaks in the state, expected to reach $517.2 million annually in 2030-31.
Minnesota ended its sales tax exemption on electricity for data centers last year while other states, such as North Carolina, are considering an end to the exemptions.
“If all planned data centers in North Carolina are built, developers would receive an estimated $450 million in sales tax exemptions each and every year,” Gov. Josh Stern wrote on social media last month. “And with the state’s impending fiscal cliff and the federal government retreating on longstanding commitments, state revenue is especially precious.
“We should spend taxpayer dollars only when it adds value to our people. And do we really want to subsidize energy consumption by data centers when they are making everyone else’s power bills go up? It doesn’t make much sense to me.”
Metro Milwaukee Association of Commerce President Dale Kooyenga has advocated for the continued use of data center sales tax exemptions in Wisconsin, saying that construction workers on the projects are paying income and property taxes that exceed the value of the sales tax exemptions and the projects would not come to the state without the sales tax break.
“As a CPA, it is not a ‘cost’ if you never had the revenue or expense,” Kooyenga wrote. “There is no hole in the budget; in fact, there are more state resources because the policy brought economic activity to WI, and an existing funding stream or expenditure didn’t have to be cut.
“Ratepayers will not subsidize electrical rates, property taxpayers do not subsidize TIFs and a sales tax exemption does not mean that this is ‘costing’ WI taxpayers.”

(The Center Square) – Midwestern states, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan in particular, were hit harder in the past week by rising gasoline prices, according to a national price tracking website.
The five states with the largest increases in gas prices were all in the Midwest, led by Indiana and followed by Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin, GasBuddy posted on X Monday.
Indiana had an increase of 83.2 cents in the previous week, GasBuddy said. That brought the average price of a gallon of gasoline to nearly $5 at $4.82.
Ohio saw a 78.1 cent per gallon spike, followed by Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin, giving the Midwest a sweep of the top five.
“Gasoline prices rose in every state over the last week, with some of the most significant and fastest increases concentrated in the Great Lakes, where states like Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois saw sharp spikes, while Wisconsin experienced more modest gains,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a statement.
Refinery outages were partly to blame for higher prices in the Midwest, said De Haan.
“While refinery outages were a key driver behind those outsized increases, early signs of improvement could help ease some of the most extreme price pressures in the Great Lakes in the days ahead,” he said.
The military conflict in Iran remains a factor with President Donald Trump announcing a plan to free stranded ships in the region. OPEC+ also announced plans to increase oil production next month.
“However, with so many moving pieces, the outlook remains highly fluid, and while some localized relief may emerge, broader price volatility is likely to persist in the near term,” DeHann said.
For now, the key word is uncertainty, the analyst said.
“Looking ahead, volatility is likely to remain elevated,” he wrote. “With diplomatic efforts faltering and tensions showing few signs of easing, traders will continue to react swiftly to geopolitical developments. As long as uncertainty surrounds supply – especially in critical regions and transit routes – oil prices are likely to remain supported, with sharp swings possible as markets navigate an increasingly fragile and headline-driven environment.”
Nationally, the average gas price is $4.54 per gallon, significantly up over the last week.

(The Center Square) – Questions about more than 20 late-arriving ballots in Madison are not settled.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission last month ordered the county and the city of Madison not to count 23 ballots that were delivered to polling places after 8 p.m. on April’s election day. Wisconsin law says all ballots must be at the polls before they close.
On Tuesday, Dane County voted to appeal the order from the Elections Commission.
Dane County legal counsel David Gault wrote in an argument for the county board of canvassers that the ballots were not technically late because election managers received the ballots the day before Election Day but didn’t deliver them to the polls until later the next evening.
“[Wisconin’s late ballot law] should not be construed to disenfranchise an elector who has strictly complied with all statutory requirements to cast an absentee ballot. Such a construction would, in my opinion, be unconstitutional as applied to the facts of this case,” Gault wrote. “The Supreme Court has held that failure on the part of election officials to perform their duties should not deprive the voters of their constitutional right to vote.”
The Elections Commission said that interpretation is wrong.
WEC wrote in its legal argument that Dane County is relying on an old reading of state law, and that an update in the state law makes it clear that late ballots should not be counted.
“There’s no discretion to do anything other than reject absentee ballots that were not cast according to those specific provisions,” WEC attorney Angela O’Brien Sharpe wrote.
Which Madison voters may lose their vote is unknown.
Votebeat reported Tuesday that while Madison’s election clerk ordered poll workers to mark the late-arriving ballots, some poll workers did not.
To offset that mistake, Madison “drew down” 20 ballots from the final vote count. Meaning the votes of people who were on-time with their ballots may not have been counted.
This is not the first time that Madison has had issues with counting ballots.
In the November 2024 election, Madison’s now-former clerk failed to count nearly 200 absentee ballots.
The ballots were discovered one week and one month after Election Day. An investigation showed Madison’s clerk ignored questions about counting those ballots because she had taken time off to bake Christmas cookies.

(The Center Square) – Despite a record-breaking rainy April in parts of Wisconsin, the state is warning about fire danger for more than half the state.
The state’s Department of Natural Resources warned of a high risk of wildfires in the northern half of Wisconsin.
“Fire danger is Very High across much of the state and DNR burn permits are suspended in 43 counties. Fire risk is increased by ongoing dry vegetation, low humidity, warmer temperatures and breezy conditions, with gusts up to 35 mph expected,” the DNR said in an announcement.
The DNR’s fire map shows a high risk for fires across most of the rest of Wisconsin, including the Milwaukee and Madison areas. Only western Wisconsin, Trempeleau, Buffalo, Pepin, Dunn, and Pierce counties are not under a fire danger warning. The DNR says those counties are looking at only moderate fire danger.
“This elevated fire danger will continue until there is significant rainfall, and the DNR will continue to prohibit burning with all DNR-issued burn permits for debris burning where the DNR has burn restriction authority in areas with elevated fire danger,” the DNR added.
The fire danger warnings come after a record-breaking rainy April in some parts of the state.
Green Bay saw a record 8.5 inches of rain last month. Many communities in northeast Wisconsin saw similar rain falls, and many communities saw floods.
Milwaukee also flooded after seeing near-record rains. The National Weather Service said last month was the sixth wettest on record in Milwaukee. April was also the eighth wettest for folks in Madison.
The DNR did not say when the fire danger will lessen, in fact, the state said the fire danger across the state will likely last for a while.
“Spring is the most critical fire season in Wisconsin. Even a few days between precipitation can dry out grasses, pine needles and leaf litter, creating hazardous conditions,” the DNR said.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin saw a 44.8-cent increase in the average price per gallon over the past week and diesel prices hit a record high Monday with an average price of $5.62 per gallon, topping the previous record set in 2022.
Wisconsin’s price increase to $4.37 per gallon of unleaded gas ranked below Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois as the Midwest states felt the impact of both the conflict in the Middle East and issues at a BP refinery in Whiting, Indiana.
“Gasoline prices rose in every state over the last week, with some of the most significant and fastest increases concentrated in the Great Lakes, where states like Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois saw sharp spikes, while Wisconsin experienced more modest gains,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, wrote. “At the same time, diesel prices surged to new records in parts of the region, with some areas touching the $6-per-gallon mark.
“While refinery outages were a key driver behind those outsized increases, early signs of improvement could help ease some of the most extreme price pressures in the Great Lakes in the days ahead. Beyond the region, markets are also digesting a wave of new developments – including OPEC+ raising production for June and President Trump outlining a plan to free stranded ships—which could help restore some supply. However, with so many moving pieces, the outlook remains highly fluid, and while some localized relief may emerge, broader price volatility is likely to persist in the near term.”
Despite the increases, Wisconsin remained below the national average of $4.42 per gallon as of noon Monday.
Indiana rose 83.3 cents, Ohio went up 78.1 cents, Michigan went up 68 cents and Illinois rose 49.3 cents over the week.
Wisconsin diesel prices rose 73.2 cents over the week, behind only Michigan and Indiana and ahead of Illinois and Ohio. The median national price is $5.49 across the U.S.

(The Center Square) – WisconsinEye wants $1 million in the form of $50,000 per month through December 2027 from the state’s Joint Committee on Legislative Oversight as it works to keep operating in the state.
Lawmakers did not pass any of several proposed bills to fund the governmental meeting streaming service before it left session this spring.
The request of taxpayer funds comes on the heels of the network saying in Mid-April that it would need to close its doors after 19 years “by early summer” without funding from the state.
“This request reflects the intention of monthly support as articulated in the Senate’s bill, and captures the spirit of the Assembly bill to provide ongoing earnings from invested funds,” WisEye said in a statement. “The requested amount of $50,000 per month provides for one-half of the network’s operational expenses and will send a significant, strong message to program sponsors and charitable donors contemplating their support.”
WisEye has been operating on a limited schedule as it works to raise funding for its current budget after temporarily shuttering and taking its archives offline in December.
“The end date proposed accompanies a parallel request of WisconsinEye to extend the network’s current access and carriage agreement through CY 2027, allowing time for the new legislature to consider a long-term plan of support – one that could create a hybrid of the Senate and Assembly bills, and allowing for WisconsinEye to stay operational while exploring an RFP and other support options,” WisEye’s statement said.
The Wisconsin Senate passed a bill that would have sent WisEye more than $585,000 in taxpayer funds for the next year while collecting requests for proposal for a public affairs network.
The JCLO previously approved $50,000 in funding to keep the network on the air through February.

(The Center Square) – There is another call to end Wisconsin’s April elections.
Former Gov. Scott Walker said during a weekend appearance on UpFront that voters would be better served by one, statewide election in November.
“Bring it to November when the most people in the state turn out, not only for the courts, for school boards, for every election, have a higher turnout, get everyone involved,” Walker said.
Wisconsin has its non-partisan elections for school boards, local councils, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court in April. The former governor said while that may have once been the case, none of those races are non-partisan any longer.
“The facade that somehow these are nonpartisan positions, particularly on the Supreme Court, it is clear conservatives get behind one candidate, liberals versus the other, just lay it out there,” Walker added.
Walker is not the only Republican to call to move the spring elections to November.
Former candidate for governor Josh Schoemann proposed moving the spring elections to the fall as part of his proposal to overhaul elections in the state.
He too said the April election has grown beyond where it first started.
He said voters need to be honest about the politics at play, particularly during the Supreme Court races, and “stop pretending we’re something we’re not.”
Moving Wisconsin’s spring elections, however, will not be easy or quick. It would take a constitutional amendment to end the April election. That will take two votes in the legislature in two back-to-back years. It would then require voters to approve the move. The governor would not be able to veto the plan.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly had two events on her calendar marked “private appointment” and another at noon April 15, the day an Assembly committee meeting was scheduled to look into a 2024 standards-setting conference her department held in the Wisconsin Dells.
Underly did not attend the hearing, instead sending two members of her staff who did not work in the department at the time of the conference. The calendar was released after a public records request from The Center Square for Underly’s calendar and communications during the meeting.
The staff members who attended the hearing told the Assembly Committee on Government Operations, Accountability and Transparency that Underly was unavailable to attend the meeting on short notice.
“We received extremely short notice on this hearing,” DPI spokesperson Chris Bucher told The Center Square on the day of the committee hearing. “The very best staff equipped to address questions about open records, from our Division of Government and Public Affairs, were in the room. If the committee sincerely wanted to ensure availability, they would not be scheduling hearings with such short notice.”
Underly also failed to attend an October committee meeting on DPI’s handling of sexual misconduct from registered teachers across the state, which is now the subject of an audit expected to be released soon.
The response to the public records request did not include any text messages but did include several emails from and to DPI staff members during the hearing. The response redacted Underly’s email address.
DPI said that it gives lawmakers earlier notice of events than DPI received from the committee.
“At the DPI, we take a very different approach,” Bucher wrote. “We make a point of providing legislators with ample notice and meaningful opportunities to engage. For example, we invited Rep. Nedweski to join Dr. Underly on a visit to a Blue Ribbon School well in advance, specifically to allow for proper planning and participation. You can find Dr. Underly promoting this collaboration and the visit with Rep. Nedweski here on her Facebook. That is what good-faith collaboration looks like.”
At the hearing, DPI representatives claimed that records from the standards-setting conference in the Dells involving the 88-member committee that met were not subject to open meetings or open records disclosure because the conference was setup by vendor Data Recognition Corp.
Committee Chair Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, had the legislative legal affairs department read from state law that included a stipulation that a private company contracted to do public work had to follow the same record-keeping and notice process as a public entity.
Also, Institute for Reforming Government General Counsel Jake Curtis testified he believed prior case law was clear that the 88-member committee constituted an Ad Hoc Committee that should hold its meetings publicly.
IRG filed a complaint in Adams County Court about the meeting and plans to file a legal action on the meeting if no further action is taken by the court.
“Wisconsin case law is clear,” Curtis told the committee. “… The DOJ compliance guide is extremely clear on this.”