WI Joint Committee on Legislative Organization violated open meetings law.

• Date: 21 December 2005
• Published date: 21 December 2005

Byline: Denise G. Callahan

Questions have arisen about the Wisconsin Legislature's approach to open meetings and open records laws following a circuit court judge's decision earlier this month. A Dane County trial court judge called a couple of legislators on the carpet for holding faulty meetings and a new lawsuit challenges the government's handling of records.

The first lawsuit challenged - among other things - an age old legislative practice of casting decisions on government matters via mail-in ballots. Apparently, no one has ever questioned this violation of the open meetings laws until two former employees were fired via this vehicle.

"I don't know if anybody knows when this process really began but it probably began in a beneficent way to simply allow busy legislators to stay up with the demands of their jobs in casting votes," said Peter Fox, executive director of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association (WNA). "It has been going on for decades and no one has ever stood up on their hind legs and questioned it before, including members of the press who have been lodged at the state capitol building for lo those same many years. This has been a very common practice and no one until this point recognized this as a violation of open meetings laws."

Case Background

Markley D. Wahl and his wife, Patrice O'Connor Wahl, both worked for the Legislative Technology Services Bureau, Wahl as the agency's director and O'Connor Wahl as one of nine team leaders. She also was designated as her husband's second in command. O'Connor Wahl started working for the LTSB in 1987 and Wahl joined up in 1998. In 2001, the couple followed the proper protocols with regard to notifying the state about their relationship.

The state's Joint Committee on Legislative Organization (JCLO) - a body comprised of legislative leaders from both houses of the Legislature and both political parties - oversees and proffers policy for all legislative service agencies, including the LTSB.

Rumblings about bad management practices at the LTSB apparently began filtering up to the JCLO in early 2003. Rep. John Gard (R-Peshtigo) as speaker of the Assembly and Sen. Alan Lasee (R-De Pere) as president of the Senate co-chair the JCLO. The two legislators, along with Mary Panzer, former Assembly minority leader, started informal discussions about how to handle the situation. The three decided to hire Dale Cattanach, former director of the Legislative Audit Bureau to look into the situation...