Speaker Robin Vos won't release $850,000 contract with law firm in Wisconsin gerrymandering case
Patrick Marley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Published 12:08 p.m. CT Dec. 31, 2018 | Updated 8:58 a.m. CT Jan. 2, 2019
MADISON - Assembly Speaker Robin Vos won't make public a legal contract that will cost taxpayers $850,000, despite a state law meant to ensure government records are widely available.
Advocates for open records say the Rochester Republican is in the wrong and must release a copy of the contract with the Chicago-based law firm Bartlit Beck.
Assembly Republicans recently retained the firm to help defend the state in a long-running lawsuit over legislative district lines they drew in 2011 that have helped them win elections. Taxpayers have already spent more than $2 million in legal fees to draw and defend those maps.
"They should just release the record. I mean, it's clearly a public record and it should be automatic," said Orville Seymer, field operations director of the conservative Citizens for Responsible Government and a member of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council's board.
"I think the denial of this contract is clearly illegal and clearly in bad faith," said Bill Lueders, editor of The Progressive magazine and president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.
"If the public is being expected to pay this bill, it has every right to see the agreement."
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/12/31/vos-wont-release-850-000-contract-law-firm-redistricting-case/2448987002/
Obstruction is just plain obstruction.....................absolutely amazing................If I lived in Wisconsin I would be livid............................
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