State Representatives Thiesfeldt On Open Records Complaint

The chairman of the State Assembly Education Committee says an open records complaint filed by One Wisconsin Now is frivolous. State Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt of Fond du Lac says One Wisconsin Now is, “An organization of liberal political hacks who can’t get candidates elected to office.” He says instead they waste his time and their own resources by filing frivolous open records filing frivolous open requests and lawsuits against conservatives with the intent of trying to intimidate them from acting on important issues such as school accountability. He says the committee held a joint meeting Tuesday with members of the Senate to discuss a possible consensus on sanctions for schools that don’t measure up. However the open records controversy had to do with discussion after Senate members left about a possible vote the committee could take on Thursday to amend the Assembly bill. Thursday’s meeting was eventually cancelled. Thiesfeldt says he told Democrats on the committee that particular item wasn’t noticed for Tuesday’s meeting and they couldn’t discuss the vote, but could discuss scheduling. He says the legislative counsel attorney was at Tuesday’s meeting and didn’t intervene to say that the committee was acting improperly. One Wisconsin Now officials complaint focuses on the discussion held in open session Tuesday after Senate members left and the committee had reconvened. They say it was done without notice.