It looks like Gov. Scott Walker’s administration’s attempt to keep the rest of Wisconsin in the dark has been ruined. But just the very idea that they were messing around under the table is unsettling.
The Public Records Board unanimously reversed this summer’s decision to categorize text messages as transitory, thus excluding them from a public records request because they are unimportant.
Public Records Board unanimously reverses decision said to have limited open records access
Transitory records can be defined as short-term records that do not have documentary or evidentiary value, meaning that they can be deleted.
But come on, what’s the big deal? Why would I, or any other tax-paying citizen for that matter, care about every little thing our government officials do on their phones while they’re on the clock? It’s not like I’m paying their salaries.
Oh wait …
The fact of the matter is that I — and I’m sure many others — want to know what kind of things our government officials are up to while they’re running the state, whether it be text-message conversations about state loans or even if they’re sleeping in beds after indulging in a meal of milk and apples.
OK, “Animal Farm” references aside, it’s not too hard to see that transparency is the best recipe for a healthy relationship between incumbents and their constituents, but I guess there are a lot of government officials who just can’t stay off the delete button.
The issue is these transitory materials are often erased because they are seen as unimportant, so when a public record request rolls around, these materials can’t be released because they had already been deleted. This excuse was recently exploited during an investigation into a failed state loan, in which text messages discussing the loan were considered transitory and thus erased. But after all, what are the chances anyone would ever care about the decision process regarding the approval of a risky $500,000 loan, comprised of taxpayer money, to one of Walker’s largest donors?
The Public Records Board is planning to eventually redefine the meaning of transitory to be more clear in what should be kept and what should be deleted, so this fiasco doesn’t happen again. But the term transitory itself is what really should be tossed.
While deleting messages may be quite tempting for the sake of preserving the image of an organization, it seems rather problematic that these records are being erased simply because only those directly involved in the decision-making process deemed them as unimportant. But since the Wisconsin Public Records Law lists all emails sent or received on an authority’s computer system as public records, text messages concerning public issues should not be considered any different. Let’s be honest, text messaging is really just the cooler, younger sibling of email anyway.
Even if there is nothing in these records, the mere fact that they are being swept under the rug comes off as a bit fishy. Let the public decide what’s important and unimportant. If the National Security Agency can watch me dodge my mom’s “How are your grades?” texts, it’s not too ridiculous to think that we should be able to see government officials’ texts, especially when they regard public issues in any way.
While I’m not suggesting these politicians are in the same company as those running Gotham, nor am I going to pretend to know the ins and outs of politics, but if government officials feel the need to hide their conversations in dark alleys or even behind their cellphone screens, I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that my confidence and trust in their motives would definitely be shaken.
So scrap the idea of transitory records. Make a folder on the computer, throw all the unimportant stuff in there and call it a day. In the case of text messages, just forward them to an email account and save them through there. It’s 2016. It can’t be too terribly hard to hold onto a few text messages for a while.
Phil Michaelson ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in biomedical engineering.
