Release The John Doe E-Mails

There will be substantive revelations about Scott Walker's 2010 run for Governor and its relationship with Milwaukee County government when he was County Exec if and when the voluminous e-mail record obtained during the John Doe probe is released.

We have already seen indications of the message coordination between the campaign and the activities of county officials on matters of public policy - - examples in this post, here - - and the communications records also include traffic on the off-the-books email system set up in Walker's office suite by political operatives who used it on county time.

The Journal Sentinel has made the case for the release of these records.

The burden for making sure government is open and transparent should never rest on the public's shoulders. It should lie squarely on the shoulders of the public's servants, who should make sure that public business is done in the light of day; not in the dark via secret systems.

Walker and Chisholm - and anyone else who professes a belief in open and transparent government - should ask that those emails be released from the secrecy order covering the John Doe. The public deserves to know how Milwaukee County conducts its business, even on a secret email system.

No more delays.