LETTER: Grafton would violate state law hiding applicant names

To Ozaukee Press:

The Ozaukee Press reports that Grafton is asking applicants for the village administrator position if they are still interested before releasing the names of the finalists for the position. That refusal is plainly illegal.

State records law requires the release of applications of all finalists to most government offices. The applicants have no say in whether their names and other application records get released or not.

The public interest in this information is not just those who are still “interested” in the position. Public oversight of the whole application process is important. The public deserves to know who village officials thought would be best for the job, even if they don’t wind up taking it.

Grafton was sued not long ago for denying a record request in a case

that made it all the way to the court of appeals. Hopefully they reverse course instead of risking the same happening again.

Tom Kamenick

Port Washington

The letter writer is the president and founder of the Wisconsin Transparency Project.