Governors' WI Confab Costs Kept Secret; Some 2012 Data Is A Guide

The Journal Sentinel reports that no one, including Gov. Walker, will disclose how much the corporate donors are kicking in to underwrite 2013 National Governors Association events in downtown Milwaukee.

Again, Walker's claims of transparency are comical.

Virginia media published some of that information when the conference was held there in 2012:

Among those underwriting the 2012 NGA summer meeting at the Williamsburg Lodge are Virginia's dominant electrical utility, Dominion, and Altria, the parent of tobacco king Philip Morris. Each gave $100,000 to the host committee, the highest sums given.

Others include Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and Northrop Grumman, the ubiquitous government and defense contractor that holds the largest state contract in Virginia history for a partnership to operate the state's vast centralized information technology system.

But hats off to the Journal Sentinel for reporting that then-Gov. Tommy Thompson had made full disclosure of the donations' sources for a similar event in 1998, and also for circulating this awesome Damnnation-With-Faint-Praise observation from Wisconsin's leading media advocate for open government:

Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, said the secrecy was an "unfortunate departure from Gov. Walker's record of open government." He said that donors had a right to be proud of sponsoring a bipartisan event that seeks to make state governments around the country more efficient and effective.