{"id":1314953,"date":"2026-03-09T11:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T16:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/?p=1314953"},"modified":"2026-03-09T12:25:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T17:25:53","slug":"your-right-to-know-opees-wisconsin-watch-kertscher-data-centers-open-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/2026\/03\/your-right-to-know-opees-wisconsin-watch-kertscher-data-centers-open-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Right to Know: Opees highlight good works, and bad","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/b><\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

Two attempts to peel back the veil of secrecy over the proliferation of data centers, including one by Wisconsin Watch reporter Tom Kertscher<\/a>, are being honored in this year\u2019s Openness in Government Awards, or Opees, bestowed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In advance of national\u00a0Sunshine Week<\/a>\u00a0(sunshineweek.org<\/a>), March 15-21, the council has named the winners of its 20th annual Opees. These recognize outstanding efforts to protect the state\u2019s tradition of open government, as well as highlight some threats to it. Winners have been invited to appear at a\u00a0free public event<\/a>\u00a0in Madison on March 19. (See WFOIC website<\/a> for details.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The winners are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public Openness Advocate (Popee): Vilas County District Attorney Karl Hayes. <\/strong>District attorneys in Wisconsin are statutorily empowered to enforce the state\u2019s open records and open meetings laws, but in practice rarely do so. Early this year, Hayes showed how it can be done, warning<\/a> officials in the town of Presque Isle that they needed to comply with a nearly year-old request from the Lakeland Times newspaper for records regarding the town\u2019s computers. His intervention succeeded<\/a>, and the records were released. Other DAs might look for occasions where they can turn the lever in favor of openness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citizen Openness Advocate (Copee): Midwest Environmental Advocates. <\/strong>This nonprofit public interest law firm last year filed two pivotal lawsuits challenging the secrecy surrounding data center projects. The first<\/a>, against the city of Racine, forced the prompt release of water usage projections for Microsoft\u2019s Mount Pleasant campus. The second lawsuit<\/a>, against the state Public Service Commission (PSC), contested the \u201ctrade secret\u201d status of energy demand data for Meta\u2019s proposed data center in Beaver Dam; that case is pending. Kudos to MEA for insisting on the public\u2019s right to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Media Openness Advocate (Mopee): The Badger Project. <\/strong>In recent years, this nonprofit news outlet has been requesting records from police departments around the state about internal investigations of police officers and suing when they are not provided. In 2025, it filed three<\/a> such<\/a> lawsuits<\/a> \u2014 against a police department in Racine County, the state Department of Transportation and St. Croix County. All led to the release of records. The Badger Project is now appealing<\/a> St. Croix County\u2019s refusal to pay attorney fees, which could lead to the overturning of a deeply problematic state Supreme Court decision. Fingers crossed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open Records Scoop of the Year (Scoopee): Tie:<\/strong> Tom Kertscher of Wisconsin Watch; Danielle DuClos of The Cap Times. <\/strong>Among much other good reporting on openness issues, the work of these two journalists stands out. Kertscher pulled back the curtain<\/a> on the secrecy surrounding data centers, including at least four projects in which local officials signed nondisclosure agreements with the companies. And DuClos reported<\/a> on how the state Department of Public Instruction secretly investigated more than 200 Wisconsin K-12 educators accused<\/a> of sexual misconduct or grooming behaviors toward students, prompting<\/a> a statewide audit and legislative action.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tRelated Story<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"At\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

At least four Wisconsin communities signed secrecy deals for billion-dollar data centers<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t

Massive data center proposals are often developed in secret. Wisconsin has now joined several states with legislative proposals to make the process more transparent.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\n

No Friend of Openness (Nopee): Deborah Kerr, <\/strong>superintendent of the St. Francis School District.<\/strong> <\/strong>While there were other contenders for this award, there was also little question that Kerr would be the winner and new champion. Last June, she threatened<\/a> to have a TMJ4 News reporter and camera operator arrested for wanting to film a school board meeting \u201cbecause you did not give us any notice or tell us why you were here,\u201d neither of which is required. The jaw-dropping video (see for yourself at https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/zvam889a<\/a>) went viral, and Kerr issued a weak apology, but her eruption is one for the ages. Credit reporter Megan Lee for her deft handling of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whistleblower of the Year (Whoopee): John Sigwart. <\/strong>This former Port Washington city council member refused to keep the public in the dark about a clandestinely proposed microchip production facility, revealing that local officials had signed nondisclosure agreements. The city\u2019s mayor retaliated by stripping Sigwart of his committee appointments, precipitating an end to his many years of public service, said an editorial<\/a> in the Ozaukee Press. Sigwart died in August at age 80, but his example of courage will live on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council (<\/em>wisfoic.org<\/em><\/a>), a nonprofit, nonpartisan group dedicated to open government. Bill Lueders is the group\u2019s president.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two attempts to peel back the veil of secrecy over the proliferation of data centers, including one by Wisconsin Watch reporter Tom Kertscher, are being honored in this year\u2019s Openness in Government Awards, or Opees.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":20,"featured_media":1314958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"gigafact_has_fact_brief":false,"gigafact_remote_fact_brief_post_id":0,"gigafact_remote_sync_timestamp":"","gigafact_remote_sync_status":"","gigafact_remote_sync_response":"","gigafact_has_been_published":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[3429],"tags":[19400,1074,754],"partner":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"type-of-work":[],"coauthors":[3037],"class_list":["post-1314953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-data-centers","tag-open-government","tag-your-right-to-know","entry"],"fact_brief":null,"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/2026\/03\/your-right-to-know-opees-wisconsin-watch-kertscher-data-centers-open-government\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Your Right to Know: Opees highlight good works, and bad","url":"http:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/2026\/03\/your-right-to-know-opees-wisconsin-watch-kertscher-data-centers-open-government\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/2026\/03\/your-right-to-know-opees-wisconsin-watch-kertscher-data-centers-open-government\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wisconsinwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Data-center.jpg?fit=140%2C93&quality=100&ssl=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wisconsinwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Data-center.jpg?fit=2500%2C1666&quality=100&ssl=1"},"articleSection":"Opinion","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bill Lueders"}],"creator":["Bill Lueders"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Wisconsin Watch","logo":"https:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ww-logo-footer-1.png"},"keywords":["data centers","open government","your right to know"],"dateCreated":"2026-03-09T16:50:11Z","datePublished":"2026-03-09T16:50:11Z","dateModified":"2026-03-09T17:25:53Z"},"rendered":"