A fairly substantial controversy has arisen over the Wisconsin Republican Party’s efforts to obtain email correspondence written to and from University of Wisconsin professor William Cronon via FOIA.
The story began with a blog post written by Cronon on March 15. Inaugurating his blog, which is entitled “Scholar as Citizen”, the history professor described in detail the efforts of a conservative group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to draft model legislative bills addressing conservative issues that can then be tailored by state legislators across the country to be passed in their own particular state. Cronon alleges that ALEC is behind the recent flood of conservative legislative proposals in Wisconsin pertaining to state employees collective bargaining rights, property taxes, and a variety of other issues. Cronon did not criticize the legality of ALEC’s actions, but claimed, “My concern is rather to promote open public discussion and the genuine clash of opinions among different parts of the political spectrum, which I believe is best served by full and open disclosure of the interests of those who advocate particular policies.” (more…)
