Wisconsin Conservatives' Situational Horror At Government Secrecy

Late Wednesday irony alert: Conservatives close a meeting chaired by top state officials after making a fuss about the meeting described below they demanded be opened (and it was.)

There was a brief uproar in Madison over a plan to hold this morning a closed-door forum for legislators about climate change.

The meeting's bi-partisan sponsors quickly changed their minds about the format after broad criticism; the meeting is public and underway, I gather.

So - - no lasting harm, minor foul. Situation resolved. We need all the public information and dialogue available.

Agenda, here.

Note that conservatives were among the complainants, though the original format was intended to make it politically-easier (survivable?) for GOP legislators to attend without right-wing advocacy groups lambasting them for being willing to look at and listen to climate science which Professors Limbaugh, Hannity and McKenna deny.

The conservative critics would have more credibility had they been equally concerned about the heavy damage done to open government when GOP legislative leaders hired private attorneys with public funds to concoct the once-in-a-decade Wisconsin redistricting plan.

Then sent publicly-paid staffers out of the Capitol to work on district lines and constituency composition behind closed, lawyers' doors.

And required Senators and Assembly members to sign confidentiality pledges before being allowed to see district map drafts created with public dollars.

A process ripped for its lack of transparency by a federal judge - - appointed by Pres. Reagan.

More details, here.

The climate change forum was conceived with bi-partisan - - even non-partisan - - intentions to accommodate conservatives.

The redistricting process was also planned to accommodate conservatives, but the goals were entirely political, partisan and self-serving.