Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Holperin Introduces Anti-Dumpster Bill

State Senator Jim Holperin (D-Conover) has introduced a bill that would make state government more transparent:
State Sen. Jim Holperin (D-Conover) urged an Assembly committee Thursday to favorably move forward his bill to end the Legislature's exemption from the public records retention law.

Holperin testified at a public hearing on the bill before the Assembly's Committee on Judiciary and Ethics. The senator has authored companion legislation in the Senate, and is the principal author and driving force of the measures.

Holperin thanked the committee and its chairman, Rep. Jim Ott (R-Mequon), for holding the session. The Conover Democrat had requested a Senate hearing last Dec. 19 in a letter to Sen. Rich Zipperer (R-Pewaukee), the chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, but Holperin said Thursday the committee had yet to afford the bill a hearing.

Technically, the open records law does apply to lawmakers. Right now, though, according to an analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the state Public Records Board supervises the state's public records management and preservation program and sets retention schedules for records, but none of those management and preservation procedures apply to the records or correspondence of members of the Legislature.

Hence, a lawmaker could dispose of any records at any time. Holperin's bill deletes the exemption.
This is a good bill and the State Senate judiciary committee should hold a hearing on that as soon as possible. Transparency in government, which this bill would strengthen, is always a good thing.

The Republicans probably would hate to see this bill pass though. It could be a real embarrassment given the Walkergate Dumpster and the revealing of the Super-Secret Money-Loving Voter-Hating Club they've got going on.


  1. Hey, that last line was a Little Rascals allusion, was it not?

  2. Yup. A take off of the He-Man Woman-Haters Club.

  3. Chris, why don't you have like buttons for exemplary cognitions?

  4. I have one. It's to the right near the top. It's called "Support Cog Dis." :D

  5. Okay, got it. But what about enjoying fantastic commenters comments, sometimes they've laid out a great point and there is nothing to add but to give a big thumbs up. Don't get me wrong, I love your blog. Just suggestin'

    1. Blogger/Google hasn't gotten around to adding those to the comments yet. Sorry.