Racine offers settlement in public records suit, but wants to avoid paying fees
Bruce Vielmetti
A Court of Appeals ruling in a public records case last month seemed pretty clear that Racine must turn over some PowerPoints requested by former City Council member and mayoral candidate Sandy Weidner.
Instead, Weidner says, on the five-year anniversary of the Power Point presentation that led to a bizarre, once-secret lawsuit, the city proposed a settlement.
Weidner thought it was so ridiculous, she made a YouTube video about it.
According to the video, the city offered to:
- Not petition the Supreme Court to review the Court of Appeals decision.
- Allow Weidner -- and only Weidner -- to view the Power Points at issue.
- Agree that a contempt order against Weidner for first speaking out about her "sealed" public records lawsuit be dismissed.
- Waive any claims to fees and costs for seeking an $18,000 sanction against Weidner related to the contempt finding.
In return, the city wants Weidner to:
- Drop all her claims to fees and costs, (to which she's entitled under Wisconsin's open records law)
- Release all other potential claims against the city.
- Agree to dismiss her lawsuit with prejudice.
"There are two words I used in my response" to the settlement offer, Weidner said in the video. "One word starts with an F, the other one starts with a Y."
Weidner says she'd welcome a Supreme Court review of the case, has spent in the area of $40,000 pursuing the case and would never give up any potential claims against the city.
"That will never happen because I fully intend to pursue filing charges in federal court because my civil rights were violated," she said.
Michael J. Cohen, a Milwaukee lawyer who has represented the city throughout the case, said in an email it was "highly inappropriate" for Weidner to publicly disclose a "confidential and privileged" settlement proposal.
"Under the circumstances, the City will not comment further" on the proposal or the PowerPoints, which remain filed under seal.
Mayor's race
In August 2017, while Weidner was running for mayor, City Attorney Scott Letteney called all 15 members of the City Council to a closed session meeting of the Executive Committee and gave a 72-slide PowerPoint presentation.
Weidner says most of the content was emails she sent under her city account, which Letteney suggested inappropriately shared confidential city information and should be reviewed by the city's board of ethics.
Weidner still wonders if the same slides presented to the committee were referred to the ethics board, or whether city officials added different materials which would support their claim of impropriety.
RELATED:Veil of secrecy lifted from Racine public records case, but remaining redactions raise questions
Weidner, who served 20 years on the council, felt the meeting was meant to embarrass her and damage her campaign, because she was focusing on city problems she said were caused by the administration. Current Mayor Cory Mason won that special October 2017 election.
She said she did not believe the emails were improper. When she was later denied a copy of the PowerPoint, she sued under Wisconsin's open records law.
Racine County Circuit Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz sealed the entire matter at the city's request, so it did not appear on the state's online court records index. He dismissed Weidner's petition. She appealed.
In 2018, while still-secret case was pending at the Court of Appeals, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the existence of the case. The city asked Weidner be found in contempt. Gasiorkiewicz ruled she was.
After the case was exposed, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and news media groups sued to have it unsealed. In 2020, the Court of Appeals ruled the case should not have been completely erased from the public record, nor should it have been dismissed.
In 2019, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council named Weidner its Whistleblower of the Year.
Last month, the Court of Appeals rejected the city's argument the Power Points were covered by attorney-client privilege and exempt from disclosure under the public records law.
After the first appellate court ruling, the case was transferred from Racine County to Kenosha County Circuit Judge Chad Kerkman. A status hearing is set for Aug. 26.
RELATED:City of Racine seeks sanctions against alderman who spoke about secret open records case
Contact Bruce Vielmetti at (414) 224-2187 or bvielmetti@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ProofHearsay.