Zien: Lawsuit costly, ill-advised

Ran on Friday, June 29, 2007

Zien: Lawsuit costly, ill-advised
Former lawmaker expected challenge over keeping bill drafts private to fail

By Leader-Telegram staff and The Associated Press

The state wasted "hundreds of thousands of dollars" of taxpayers' money because a former attorney general incorrectly went after the wrong cause, former state Sen. Dave Zien said.
A judge ruled this week that lawmakers can continue to share bill drafts with lobbyists while withholding them from the public without violating the open records law. The lawsuit originally was filed in 2005 by former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, a Democrat, even though she lost her re-election bid last year.
"Everybody told her that she would be ashamed of herself and it wouldn't go anywhere, and she would not listen," Zien said.
"She chose to pick this piece of legislation, which was an obvious statement on her behalf which turned out to be ludicrous. It was a waste of hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money."
A spokesman for Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said he had not seen the ruling, so he could not comment on whether it will be appealed.
The conflict was over legislators' ability to keep original drafts private despite sharing the copies with elective groups. Drafts are exempt from public records laws.
Lautenschlager cited Zien and Rep. Scott Gunderson, R-Waterford, in the lawsuit.
Both were authors of the concealed carry bill later approved by the Legislature but vetoed by Gov. Jim Doyle. The bill, in draft form, was revealed to the National Rifle Association.
Zien, of Eau Claire, said he showed the NRA the draft for clarity's sake.
"When legislatures do bill drafts, they might be working on a hundred different pieces of legislation at the same time," he said. "In the crafting of it they're having assistance from different groups or individuals who know much more about the subjects than do we."
The presiding judge, David Flanagan of Dane County, said it would be inappropriate for the courts to tell the legislative branch how to conduct itself on a core function such as drafting legislation. He said lawmakers could make drafts available to the public in the interest of transparency, but "it is extremely questionable that any court has the power to compel such a change."
Peter Fox, executive director of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, said the ruling "stacks the deck for whoever is promoting" a specific cause in the Legislature.
If individuals or special-interest groups are allowed to see drafts of bills, they and legislators they work with are "totally prepared" to go on the offensive when the bill is introduced, Fox said.
But that process leaves opponents "totally flatfooted," especially when something is introduced at the last minute, Fox said.