You had questions about public records. We asked a reporter and a legal expert to weigh in.

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21-03-2025

Sunshine Week is a nonpartisan collaboration among groups in the journalism, civic, education, government and private sectors that shines a light on the importance of public records and open government.
Open records are one of the most powerful tools available to reporters — and the public. But how to take advantage of Wisconsin's public records law isn't always clear.
On Monday, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Mary Spicuzza and public records legal expert Tom Kamenick answered questions about open records on Reddit.
Spicuzza is a political and investigative reporter who has filed hundreds of open records requests while covering local and state government.
Kamenick is the founder of the Wisconsin Transparency Project and the former deputy counsel and litigation manager at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. He has also worked with the Journal Sentinel on some cases.
Here's a synopsis of the Q&A, edited for length and clarity:
Tom: This can be tough to deal with. The foxes are guarding the hen house!
What are the possible reasons they are saying there aren't any emails? I can think of several: (1) there never were any communications; (2) there were communications but not over email; (3) there were communications over email on different accounts (private accounts); (4) there used to be emails but they got deleted; (5) there are emails and they didn't search well enough; (6) there are emails, they found them, and they're hiding them (in my experience, the least likely, but not impossible).
Think about what information you already have that makes any of these possibilities more or less likely. Do you have other communications that suggest these emails occurred? Who did the searches? Did they tell you what search terms they used? Did you specifically ask personal email accounts to be searched?
Then I'd suggest following up with the record custodian. A phone call or personal visit can be really helpful to work through the issue.
Mary: I agree with all of Tom's points. You may also want to specifically request text messages. Any texts on their public cell phones — or texts on their personal devices discussing public business — are public records.
Here's an example of a story that Dan Bice and I wrote after obtaining text messages between public officials in Milwaukee.
Mary: Great question. It seems like everybody has a different approach to filing open records requests. Personally, I try to keep my open records requests more focused and specific to the topic or issue that I'm trying to investigate, rather than asking for "any and all communications" in a huge time period. I'll often ask for specific keywords and specific people that I believe received or sent the emails, texts or other communications. I'll often ask for a narrower time frame, and then figure I can expand as needed. It often saves time — and sometimes money.
As for the requests themselves, there are some great templates online that you can use. Here's one.
Tom: Agreed! I usually recommend that clients not make "everything and the kitchen sink" requests. They're either going to get denied as overly broad and burdensome or they're going to cost you a huge amount in location fees.
My big tip is to follow Three P's. Be Persistent and Polite, but Practical. Custodians can be helpful or difficult in a thousand ways, so remember they are human, too. And if the custodian has questions for you, or wants you to try and narrow or clarify your request, work with them to make things easier. It's in both your best interests for the process to be as painless as possible!
Tom: "Quasi-governmental corporations" are subject to both records and meetings laws. Courts use a multi-factor test to determine whether a corporation is quasi-governmental. The test looks at how much of it is funded with tax dollars, whether it is controlled by a government entity (e.g., seats on the board), whether it holds itself out to the public as governmental, whether it performs a "traditional" governmental function, and whether the government has access to its records.
There is an underused provision of the records law that covers the records of government contractors, 19.36(3): "Each authority shall make available for inspection and copying under s. 19.35 (1) any record produced or collected under a contract entered into by the authority with a person other than an authority to the same extent as if the record were maintained by the authority."
So if AAA Cleaning, Inc. does janitorial work for your local school district, your school district is obligated to obtain and turn over AAA Cleaning's records that have to do with its work for the district (but not records having to do with its work for other, private clients).
Tom: If a case doesn't settle quickly, you can figure 6-12 months usually at the circuit court level. Each level of appeals (court of appeals and/or Wisconsin supreme court) adds 12-18 months.
If a case doesn't settle, my attorney fee bills typically range from $15k-$25k to litigate a case in the trial court with full discovery and briefing. Each level of appeals typically is $5k - $15k more. However, I usually represent clients on a partial contingency basis where they pay a small fraction of that total amount up front and if the case is successful, the defendant pays my full bill and my client is refunded.
There is a procedure for making a record case run on a much faster schedule (1-2 months total), by asking the judge to hold a quick hearing and rule solely on the government's ability to defend their denial. But you give up the ability to take discovery and prepare for the custodian's defenses.
Tom: In my opinion, the WIAA should be subject to the law (as should all the lobbying organizations who act on behalf of government organizations, e.g. League of Wisconsin Municipalities, Wisconsin Towns Associations, Wisconsin Association of School Boards). But the statute would have to be rewritten to cover them. Because they are not corporations (they are unincorporated associations of members), by definition they cannot be "quasi-governmental corporations".
However, the contractor records provision of the open records law, 19.36(3), might be a tool that can be used to obtain a great deal of WIAA's records, because WIAA performs contractual obligations for its member school districts.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A reporter and Wisconsin legal expert answer public records questions