Don’t let state elected officials hide misdeeds
Sometimes doing the right thing means standing up to your friends as well as your foes.
Gov. Tony Evers was right to veto a bill that would allow lawmakers to hide if they are disciplined or accused of sexual harassment. He was right to insist that the public should have access to complaints against lawmakers and not have to wade through a new level of bureaucratic red tape. He was right to acknowledge that existing laws already provide adequate tests to balance the rights of the accused and their accusers.
While it has become commonplace for Gov. Evers to butt heads with his Republican rivals in the legislature, the July 8 veto of AB407 put him in new territory of also siding against members of his own party. The bill had passed the legislature on a unanimous vote.
AB 407 sought to create a Legislative Human Resources Office as a nonpartisan legislative service agency under a director. The bill sought to shield the offi ce’s records from the public records law by requiring the office to “at all times observe the confidential nature of records, requests, advice, complaints, reviews, investigations, disciplinary actions and other information in its possession relating to human resources matters.”
In his veto message, Evers said “I object to creating a blanket exemption for the legislature’s personnel records. The public can often only learn about misconduct through public records requests, including requests for personnel records. The people of Wisconsin have a right to know about misconduct by public officials and employees, including those in the legislature.”
He went on to say the law was unnecessary because “current law already gives record custodians ample flexibility to protect sensitive information contained in personnel records, such as the names or other information that could be relied on to infer the identity of a victim or whistleblower.”
While it is good to have a mechanism and process in place to deal with allegations of harassment and misconduct against legislative staff, state lawmakers should never forget who hired them and who can just as easily fire them.
Wisconsin is an at-wlll employment state. Lawmakers whose careers span decades have a bad habit of forgetting that they serve at the pleasure of the voters. As with any employer, voters deserve full access to the records of professional misconduct and sexual harassment to determine if the lawmakers should be kicked to the curb for their misdeeds.
The public has an absolute right to know about misconduct and allegations against elected officials. Attempts to cover these actions in a veil of secrecy stinks of corruption and moral decay.
Gov. Tony Evers did the right thing in vetoing AB 407 and preventing legislators from hiding their bad behavior from voters.
