In Wisconsin, just before the July 4 weekend, Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee introduced and pushed through the committee a horrific gutting of Wisconsin's open records and archiving laws. (See the link below.) Even Republican organizations and think tanks believe these "revisions" are awful. Because the Republicans passed the provision on July 2, they hoped no one would notice. Some media outlets have picked up the story, but who knows how long it will last if people don't get out in the streets and otherwise keep the story alive?

But let's "kill" the story by making sure this budget provision dies. 

There is nothing partisan about fighting this attempt to steal most of our state's democracy from us while we're more distracted than usual. This should bring every Wisconsinite of every political stripe and spot together. All of us should have the ability to know what our lawmakers are doing and why. Although it is most important to know this information in the here and now so we can let our voices be heard on legislation, if this law passes (yes, as part of the budget bill), it will even prevent judges from understanding the intent of legislation and historians from being able to make sense of our past and the reasons laws were passed or defeated. On the very eve of celebrating American independence, Wisconsin Republicans elected to serve in Madison are more determined than ever to serve their oligarchic masters and destroy independence for anyone other than themselves.  

 "Republicans vote to dramatically scale back oversight of lawmakers, other public officials", Wisconsin State Journal, July 3, 2015

Other legislators (unpictured) who voted for the measure were Sen. Howard L. Marklein, Rep. John Nygren, Sen. Luther S. Olsen, Rep. Michael Schraa, Sen. Thomas Tiffany, and Sen. Leah Vukmir.