UPDATE: Evers Refuses AP Request for Letter Walker Left him
The AP Requested the Letter on January 11
UPDATE: — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Monday released a hand-written note given to him by former Gov. Scott Walker just before he left office in January, after initially refusing an Associated Press open records request for the document.
Evers released it hours after the AP published a story about his denial and asked that he reconsider. Evers rejected the initial open records request, saying that the letter was “purely personal” and therefore not subject to the open records law.
“However, we appreciate the public’s interest in knowing about correspondence between governors, regardless of the nature of the messages,” the governor’s spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff said in a follow up message that included the letter.
In the brief two-paragraph note, Walker, a Republican, congratulates Evers, a Democrat, on his victory.
“It is my sincere hope that you will do well, as well as the state, during your time as governor,” Walker wrote. “As you know, this is a wonderful state and I am positive that will continue in the future.”
He goes on to say, “My best advice is personal. Remember to stay connected to your friends who were your friends long before elections. They will keep your life grounded and positive. Good luck and God be with you!”
Walker told AP in a January interview three days before he left office that in the note he summarized “some pretty good sound personal advice” he got from other governors when he took office in 2011.
Walker said then that he didn’t want to “broadcast” details of the note.
“I’ll leave that advice for him and me,” Walker said. “It’s all positive.”
The AP filed an open records request with Evers for the letter on Jan. 11, one week into his term as governor.
Evers’ assistant legal counsel Erin Deeley denied the AP request on Friday. Evers provided the letter less than five hours after AP asked him to reconsider Monday, and three hours after the story about his denial was published.
MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is refusing to release a letter written to him by former Gov. Scott Walker just before he left office in January.
The Associated Press requested a copy of the letter under Wisconsin’s open records law. Walker revealed to the AP in a Jan. 4 interview, just three days before he left office, that he had written the letter and left it for Evers.
The AP requested the letter on Jan. 11. Evers’ assistant legal counsel responded on Friday, saying that the letter “is a purely personal message that is not subject to disclosure.”
But Wisconsin Freedom of Information president Bill Lueders said Monday that response is “outrageous” and there is no such thing as a “purely personal message” from an outgoing governor to an incoming one.
