Walker Defends Slow Response To Records Requests Regarding Milwaukee Fatality

Governor Scott Walker says he was justified in taking his time to release documents about an accident from when he was Milwaukee County executive.

A concrete panel fell off the O’Donnell parking structure in June of 2010, killing a 15-year-old boy. As part of a current lawsuit pertaining to the case, a judge has ordered the release of some Milwaukee County records from the time.

In one document, Walker aide Cindy Archer wonders if County Executive Walker’s team is responding too quickly to records requests from state Democrats and Walker’s GOP gubernatorial rival Mark Neumann.

Walker says his team took its time in order to get the facts right.

“We wanted to make sure that we provided every piece of information possible, but that it was done in the context of not taking things out of context,” says Walker.

But it’s another part of Cindy Archer’s memo that troubles journalist Bill Lueders, who heads the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council. Archer suggests they need not rush given that Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Walker’s rival for governor, was taking three months to simply acknowledge receipt of public records requests.

Lueders says it would be a disturbing trend “if people are in some sort of a backwards race with each other to see who can respond to records requests the slowest.”

Lueders says Walker as governor has a pretty good record of responding to open records requests. Walker says his administration responds as quickly as it can.