STATE OF WISCONSIN

CIRCUIT COURT
BRANCH ____

DANE COUNTY

CENTER FOR MEDIA & DEMOCRACY

122 W Washington Ave Suite 555
Madison, WI 53703,
COMPLAINT

Plaintiff,

Case No.:
Code No.:

__________
30952

v.
SCOTT WALKER
State of Wisconsin
115 East Capitol
Madison, WI 53702, and
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
State of Wisconsin
115 East Capitol
Madison, WI 53702
Defendants.
COMPLAINT FOR MANDAMUS

The Center for Media and Democracy (hereinafter CMD), allege as their
Complaint against Defendants Scott Walker and the Office of the Governor as follows:
1.

CMD brings this action for mandamus under Wis. Stat. 19.37(1)(a),

requesting that this court order Defendants to release public records that Defendants
has heretofore failed to release pursuant to CMDs written request under the public
records law, and assess appropriate damages, Wis. Stat. 19.31-19.39.
2.

Under Wisconsin law, all persons are entitled to the greatest possible

information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of their

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representatives, and providing such information is an essential function of a

representative government. Wis. Stat. 19.31 (Declaration of Policy). As the Wisconsin
Supreme Court has observed, If Wisconsin were not known as the Dairy State it could
be known, and rightfully so, as the Sunshine State. All branches of Wisconsin
government have, over many years, kept a strong commitment to transparent
government. Schill v. WI Rapids School Dist., 2010 WI 86, 1, 327 Wis. 2d 572, 580, 1
(Abrahamson, C.J., lead opinion). Defendants have failed Wisconsins clean government
traditions by refusing to comply with their responsibilities under the public records
law.
FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
3.

CMD is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization engaged in investigative

reporting and research, with headquarters located at 122 W. Washington Ave., Suite
555, Madison, WI 53703.
4.

CMD is a requester as that term is defined in Wis. Stat. 19.32(3) and as

used in throughout Wisconsins public records law, Wis. Stat. 19.31-19.39.

5.

Defendant Office of the Governor is an authority as that term is defined

in Wis. Stat. 19.32(1) and as that term is used throughout the public records law,
19.31-19.39, and Governor Walker is the legal custodian of the Office of the Governors
records pursuant to Wis. Stat. 19.33(4). Defendants have a legal duty to disclose
records in response to a lawful request.
6.

On February 5, 2015, Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) Staff Writer

Jonas Persson submitted a request to Defendants for All communications or contacts

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between the Office of the Governor, and the following individuals regarding the 2015
17 Executive Budget Bills changes to ch. 36 of the Wisconsin statutes: Nathan Schwanz,
Michael Heifetz, Mike Huebsch.
7.

The requested documents are records as the term is defined in Wis. Stat.

19.32(2) and as used throughout the Public Records Law, Wis. Stat. 19.31-19.39. The
requested records pertain to Defendants role in writing Wisconsins 2015-2017 budget,
specifically provisions in Chapter 36 pertaining to the removal of the search for truth
and the Wisconsin Idea from the University of Wisconsin Systems mission statement.
8.

On May 8, ninety-two days after CMD submitted its request, Defendants

partially denied the request, declaring, in this order, that (1) records were being
withheld under the attorney client communications and attorney work product
exemptions, (2) records were being withheld under the common law balancing test,
arguing specifically that the records are protected under a purported deliberative
process privilege and alleging that the deliberative records are of little public value, and
(3) that those same records were not records at all but fell under the drafts
exemption in Wis. Stat. 19.32(2). A true and correct copy of Defendants response is
attached hereto as Exhibit A. As described below, these claims are unsupportable under
Wisconsin law.
THE RECORDS CANNOT BE PROTECTED BY ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE
9.

In their May 9 letter, Defendants claimed the following:

We have withheld some records that consist of privileged attorney-client

communications and protected attorney work product. The confidentiality of
attorney-client communications and work product are highly valued public
policies protected throughout Wisconsin law. See, e.g., Wis. Newspress, Inc. v. Sch.

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Dist. of Sheboygan Falls, 199 Wis. 2d 768, 782-83 (1996) (recognizing the attorneyclient privilege as an exception to the public records law); Seifert v. Sch. Dist. of
Sheboygan Falls, 2007 Wis. App. 207, at 28 (protected work product).
10.

There is no indication that an attorney-client relationship existed between

the office of the governor and the named individuals, none of whom are attorneys,
according to the State Bar of Wisconsin. If any such relationship did exist, it would only
apply to a very limited number of records that would be responsive to this request.
11.

The attorney work product exemption only encompasses materials

compiled by an attorney in anticipation of litigation. Seifert v. Sch. Dist. of Sheboygan

Falls, 2007 WI App 207, 28, 305 Wis. 2d 582, 28. There was no litigation pertaining to
the Executive Budget Bill or Chapter 36 planned or anticipated at the time of the
request; indeed, months later, no lawsuits pertaining to the subjects of the request have
been filed. The attorney work product exemption cannot justify the withholding of
records responsive to this request.
THE RECORDS CANNOT BE WITHHELD UNDER A CLAIMED DELIBERATIVE
PROCESS PRIVILEGE
12.

Defendants declare that, by applying the common-law balancing test, they

have withheld certain documents consisting of preliminary analysis and deliberations

created and exchanged by and among employees of DOA and employees of the
Governors office in preparation of the Governors budget, before the budget legislation
was introduced in the legislature.
13.

In applying the balancing test, it is only in an exceptional case where the

Public Records Laws strong presumption in favor of disclosure can be overcome, and

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only then if the authority can describe specific public policy concerns that would
require secrecy. Hempel v. City of Baraboo, 2005 WI 120, 63, 284 Wis. 2d 162, 63.
14.

Defendants claim that the strong public interest in disclosure of records

and in monitoring the activities of government is overcome by the publics purported

interest in protecting the deliberative process, asserting that:
A candid, complete, and creative evaluation of the states finances within DOA
and within the Governors office is inherent to the development of the
Governors executive budget. Making these internal discussions just as open to
disclosure as the final version of the budget would inhibit the free exchange of
ideas, opinions, proposals, and recommendations among those involved in
deciding what to include in the final legislation. Disclosure of this narrow
category of recordslimited to discussions within DOA, within the Governors
office, and between the two--would discourage frank internal discussion and
harm the quality of the final executive decision. Further, it would disincentivize
the free exchange of emails and written documentation necessary to hone the
precise language and calculations that are key to proper budget development.
Without a doubt, this would significantly inhibit the efficiency and efficacy of the
employees who develop the detailed language and financial calculations for the
budget.
15.

Despite claiming that protecting the deliberative process amounts to an

exceptional case that can override the strong public interest in disclosure, the
Wisconsin Supreme Court, in a 6-1 decision, has stated unequivocally that Wisconsin
law does not recognize a deliberative process privilege. Sands v. Whitnall Sch. Dist., 2008
WI 89, 48 n.12, 60-70, 312 Wis. 2d 1, 48 n.12, 60-70. The Wisconsin Attorney
General has also emphasized that, for purposes of the Public Records Law, Wisconsin
law does not recognize a deliberative process privilege. Wisconsin Public Records Law
Wis. Stat. 19.31-19.39 Compliance Outline, Wisconsin Department of Justice, 28.
16.

This appears to be the first instance since Wisconsin began drafting

executive budgets in 1929 that the governor and the Department of Administration

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have claimed that the budget drafting process is exempt from Wisconsins Public
Records Law.
17.

Defendants position is unsupportable under Wisconsin law, and they

cannot cite to any statute or common law precedent that sustains their position. Instead,
Defendants cite to non-binding federal statutory law:
The public interests supporting nondisclosure here have long been nationally
recognized, including in federal law. See Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5
USC 552(b)(5); Bureau of National Affairs v. U.S. Department of Justice, 742
F.2d 1484 (D.C. Cir. 1984).
18.

5 USC 552(b)(5) provides an exemption from disclosure under the

federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for inter-agency or intra-agency

memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an
agency in litigation with the agency. Federal courts have found that 552(b)(5)
explicitly recognizes a deliberative process exception to FOIA.
19.

The federal FOIA law does not apply to states. State ex rel. Hill v.

Zimmerman, 196 Wis. 2d 419, 428 n.6, 538 N.W.2d 608, 612 n.6 (Ct. App. 1995). Although
Wisconsin Courts have in certain instances found the public policies expressed in the
FOIA exceptions relevant to the application of the common law balancing test, they
have only done so when those exceptions overlap with Wisconsin statutory exemptions
and with the public policies represented in Wisconsin common law. Linzmeyer v. Forcey,
2002 WI 84, 32-33, 254 Wis. 2d 306, 32-33. At best, the FOIA exemptions can be
persuasive authority when they reflect Wisconsins statutory exemptions and Wisconsin
common law. Id.

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20.

That is not the case here. No parallel deliberative process exception

exists in Wisconsin law, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court has declared unequivocally
that under Wisconsin law, no such deliberative process privilege has ever been
recognized by the Wisconsin courts. Sands 2008 WI 89, 50, 312 Wis. 2d 1, 50.
21.

In fact, Wisconsin courts have repeatedly noted that the Wisconsin Public

Records Law has been more effective than the federal FOIA, in large part because FOIA
includes much broader exemptions, which have allowed more federal records to be
withheld from the public. Zimmerman at 428 fn. 6, citing Wisconsin Family Counseling
Servs., Inc. v. State, 95 Wis. 2d 670, 672-73, 291 N.W.2d 631, 633-34 (Ct. App. 1980).
Wisconsins Public Records Law has long reflected a strong policy of transparency and
access, and in contrast with federal courts interpreting FOIA, Wisconsin courts have
declined to open very large loopholes which can be used to prevent access to
significant categories of data. Id. Yet that is precisely the situation that Defendants are
seeking to create.
22.

If Defendants claims were to stand, it would undermine Wisconsins

public records law by deploying the same overly-broad loopholes that have weakened
access to information held by federal agencies.
23.

At the time the Wisconsin public records law was updated in 1979, the

role of the governors office and the DOA in drafting a budget was well-established,
and the legislature declined to exempt those agencies or the budget drafting process
from the laws disclosure requirements, for more than 35 years.

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24.

Defendants are attempting to unilaterally graft a new deliberative process

exception to Wisconsins Public Records Law, one which runs directly contrary both to
the clear directives of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and contrary to the legislatures
declaration that it is the public policy of this state that all persons are entitled to the
greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of
those officers and employees who represent them. Wis. Stat. 19.31.
DISCLOSURE IS COMPELLED BECAUSE THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN THESE
RECORDS IS SIGNIFICANT
25.

Defendants additionally claim that, under the balancing test, the public

interest in accessing these particular records is limited, since:

All legislation is publicly available once it is introduced, and numerous
documents are produced and released to the public explaining and justifying the
specifics of the executive budget. Thus, pursuant to the required balancing test,
we have concluded that the public interest in protecting the quality of the
executive decision-making process and maintaining the efficiency and efficacy of
the budget writing process outweighs the public interest in the release of these
materials.
26.

Effectively, Defendants are claiming that there is little public interest in

the budget drafting process, and that the public should accept whatever the
government voluntarily chooses to release. This is directly contrary to Wisconsins
strong traditions of open government and the role of the public records law in ensuring
government oversight. The right of the people to monitor the peoples business is one
of the core principles of democracy. Schill, 327 Wis. 2d 572, 2 (plurality opinion). The
open records law reaffirms that the people have not only the opportunity but also the
right to know what the government is doing and to monitor the government.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel v. City of Milwaukee, 2012 WI 65, 4, 341 Wis. 2d 607, 815

8"

N.W.2d 367. Transparency and oversight are essential to honest, ethical governance.
John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, Inc. v. Erpenbach, 2014 WI App 49, 32, 354 Wis.
2d 61, 32.
27.

The deliberations and discussions involved in the development of public

policy are of the utmost public interest. The importance of transparency and public
oversight is heightened when it comes to the two-year budget, which is usually the
most important piece of legislation in a biennial legislative session. And, the publics
interest in these particular records, which pertain to changes to the University of
Wisconsin Systems mission statement, is particularly compelling.
28.

The question of how and why the governor used the budget to strike the

search for truth and the Wisconsin Idea from the mission of the University of
Wisconsin System has attracted significant media attention in Wisconsin and around
the country. Outlets ranging from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to the Wisconsin State
Journal to the Washington Post have written multiple articles on the issue, as have
editorial boards at outlets like the New York Times.1 See also Exhibit B.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Karen Herzog, Walker Proposes Changing Wisconsin Idea Then Backs Away, Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel, Feb. 4, 2015, available at http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/scott-walkers-uw-missionrewrite-could-end-the-wisconsin-idea-b99439020z1-290797681.html; Dan Simmons, Scott Walker
Backtracks From Striking Truth, Human Condition from Wisconsin Idea, Wisconsin State Journal, Feb. 5,
2015, available at http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/scott-walker-backtracksfrom-striking-truth-human-condition-from-wisconsin/article_a4ca4220-7211-5fc8-b2b90ab5313c6937.html; Phillip Bump, Scott Walker moved to drop search for truth from the University of
Wisconsin mission. His office claims it was an error, Washington Post, Feb. 4, 2015, available at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/02/04/scott-walker-wants-to-drop-searchfor-truth-from-the-university-of-wisconsin-mission-heres-why/; Editorial Board, Gov. Walkers
Drafting Error, New York Times, Feb. 6, 2015, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/opinion/gov-scott-walkers-drafting-error.html
1

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29.

The publics interest in this matter is not only in the policy change itself,

but how that change came into existence. The governor initially stated that the changes
to the mission statement were the result of a drafting error in the budget. This
statement later earned a Pants On Fire rating from Politifact after the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel reviewed the budget drafting file and discovered that the DOA had
specifically requested the changes.2
30.

The governor additionally claimed that the changes had been overlooked

by University of Wisconsin officials, and issued a lengthy statement blaming

"miscommunication" between his executive office and budget staff in the DOA. Yet
emails obtained through other public records requests by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
further undermined those claims, and indicated that the change was intentional and
that university officials had in fact disputed the changes but had been rebuffed. Id.
31.

It is simply insufficient for Defendants to say that transparency is served

because legislation is publicly available once it is introduced." This undermines the

oversight role that the Public Records Law is intended to promote: the law recognizes
that a representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate, and that
all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of
government and the official acts of those officers and employees who represent them.
Wis. Stat. 19.31.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Tom Kertscher, Despite Deliberate Actions, Scott Walker Calls Change to University Mission a
Drafting Error, Politifact Wisconsin, Feb. 6, 2015, available at
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2015/feb/06/scott-walker/despite-deliberateactions-scott-walker-calls-chan/
2

10"

32.

The Public Records Law is in place so that the public is not put in a

position of having to accept whatever the government voluntarily chooses to release

and to accept the official explanation for its policies. The public has a vital interest not
only in knowing what has been done in its name, but also why those policies have been
advanced and who was involved in their development. See MacIver Institute for Public
Policy, Inc., 2014 WI App 49, 32, 354 Wis. 2d 61, 32. (Public awareness of who is
attempting to influence public policy is essential for effective oversight of our
government.)
33.

Notably, it appears that Defendants have previously complied with past

requests for records that reflected the offices preliminary analysis and deliberations
in developing the budgets changes to the University of Wisconsin Systems mission
statement. In fact, those records were vital to revealing the truth about how the changes
came about.3 The claimed deliberative process privilege is only being invoked now,
following what has been called the political firestorm that erupted after the Pants On
Fire deception from Defendants about how these budget provisions were drafted.4
Courts have repeatedly rejected efforts by the government to avoid disclosure on all
issues that the public cares most about: the contentious ones. MacIver Institute, 2014 WI
App 49 at 14.
THE RECORDS CANNOT BE WITHHELD UNDER THE 19.32(2) DRAFTS
EXEMPTION
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
See Jason Stein, Patrick Marley, Karen Herzog, Walker Forced to Admit UW Objected to Wisconsin
Idea Changes, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb. 5, 2015, available at
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/documents-show-walker-administration-seekingremoval-of-uws-wisconsin-idea-b99439710z1-290927651.html
4 Kertscher, Despite Deliberate Actions, Scott Walker Calls Change to University Mission a Drafting
Error, Politifact Wisconsin.
3

11"

34.

Defendants additionally suggest the documents are not records since

they fall under the statutory drafts exemption in the second half of Wis. Stat.
19.32(2):
Even putting the balancing test aside, these documents are not records within
the meaning of the public records law. The law specifically exempts from public
disclosure drafts, notes, preliminary computations, and like materials prepared
for the originator's personal use or prepared by the originator in the name of a
person for whom the originator is working. Wis. Stats. 19.32(2). These
preliminary analyses and deliberations are drafts, preliminary computations,
and/or similar like materials that are prepared by individuals working for the
Governor on creation of the Governors biennial budget. Release of these
preliminary materials would be contrary to the conduct of government business,
running counter to 19.32(2)s exclusions and to the declaration of policy in Wis.
Stat. 19.31.
35.

The requested documents are records and are not exempted under

19.32(2).
36.

The responsive records cannot be excluded under the 19.32(2) prepared

for the originators personal use exemption, since the requested records were
distributed to others: indeed, the request is for records of communications between
individuals and agencies about official business. The Wisconsin Attorney General has
stated that if one's notes are distributed to others for the purpose of communicating
information or if notes are retained for the purpose of memorializing agency activity,
the notes would go beyond mere personal use and would therefore not be excluded
from the definition of a "record." 77 Op. Att'y Gen. 100, 102 (1988). The Wisconsin
Supreme Court has stated that, A document prepared for something other than the
originator's personal use, whether it is in preliminary form or stamped draft, whether

12"

recommendations of the document are implemented or not, is by definition a record.

Fox v. Bock, 149 Wis. 2d 403, 414.
37.

The records also cannot be excluded under 19.32(2)s reference to

materials "prepared by the originator in the name of a person for whom the originator is
working. The exclusion of materials under this provision is to be construed narrowly.
77 Op. Att'y Gen. 100, 102 (1988). Additionally, the custodian of the document bears the
burden of proof of facts demonstrating that it is a draft. Fox v. Bock, 149 Wis. 2d 417.
38.

According to the Wisconsin Attorney General, the reason for the

exclusion is to treat as a nullity language which is drafted for but which is not accepted
by one's superior. 77 Op. Att'y Gen. 100, 102 (1988). There is no indication that any of
the responsive records were drafted for and rejected by a superior; indeed, the requests
purpose is to determine how the final language that appeared in the Executive Budget
came about.
39.

Notably, Defendants appear to be claiming that the same records

protected by the purported deliberative process privilege are also exempted from the
definition of record under 19.32(2). If, as Defendants claim, the records in question
amount to frank internal discussion and a free exchange of emails and written
documentation that represent the honing of precise language and calculations in
developing the budget, then those documents were not drafted for but not accepted
by one's superior and do not fall under the narrow drafts exemption in 19.32(2).
40.

Additionally, a document is not a draft under Wis. Stat. 19.32(2) if it is

used for the purposes for which it was commissioned. Fox v. Bock, 149 Wis. 2d 414. By

13"

Defendants own admission, they are excluding records that provide analysis and
deliberations, ideas, opinions, proposals, and recommendations, internal
discussion and calculations. These records were used for the purposes for which
they were requested: they provided analysis, ideas, recommendations, and calculations
on the budget issue in question.
PRAYER FOR RELIEF
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff CMD requests that the Court grant the following relief
pursuant to Wis. Stat. 19.31-19.39 and Wis. Stat. 806.04:
a. Allow additional legal argument, as necessary, after Defendants have
answered the Complaint;
b. Order the Defendants to provide copies of the requested records to CMD;
c. Award CMD its actual costs and damages under Wis. Stat. 19.37(2)(a);
d. Assess whether Defendants acted in a willful or intentional manner, and
arbitrarily and capriciously denied or delayed response to the request from
CMD, and assess appropriate damages under Wis. Stat. 19.37(2)(b) and (3),
and;
e. Order any other such relief as the Court deems appropriate.
Dated this 19th day of May, 2015.

Mailing Address:
122 W. Washington Ave, Ste. 555
Madison, WI 53703
Telephone: (608) 260-9713
[email protected]

______________________________
Brendan Fischer, SBN 1089027
Attorney for Plaintiff

14"

EXHIBIT A

SCOTT WALKER
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
STATE OF WISCONSIN

P.O. BOX 7863

MADISON, WI 53707

May 8, 2015
Jonas Persson
Center for Media and Democracy
[email protected]
Dear Mr. Persson,
This letter is in response to your public records request for the following:
All communications or contacts between the Office of the Governor, and the following
individuals regarding the 201517 Executive Budget Bills changes to ch. 36 of the
Wisconsin statutes: Nathan Schwanz, Michael Heifetz, Mike Huebsch.
A search of the records of the Office of the Governor has been completed, and 480 pages of
records have been found. These records are included with this letter in PDF format. Note that,
although not expressly requested, we are including additional communications we found between
the Office of the Governor and other individuals at the Department of Administration, not merely
the three individuals listed.
We have withheld some records that consist of privileged attorney-client communications and
protected attorney work product. The confidentiality of attorney-client communications and
work product are highly valued public policies protected throughout Wisconsin law. See, e.g.,
Wis. Newspress, Inc. v. Sch. Dist. of Sheboygan Falls, 199 Wis. 2d 768, 782-83 (1996)
(recognizing the attorney-client privilege as an exception to the public records law); Seifert v.
Sch. Dist. of Sheboygan Falls, 2007 Wis. App. 207, at 28 (protected work product).
Additionally, the public records law incorporates the common-law balancing test, which requires
us to weigh the public interest in disclosure against any harm that could result from disclosure.
See, e.g., Wisconsin Newspress, Inc. v. Sch. Dist. of Sheboygan Falls, 199 Wis. 2d 768, 777-78
(1996). Applying this standard, we have withheld certain documents consisting of preliminary
analysis and deliberations created and exchanged by and among employees of DOA and
employees of the Governors office in preparation of the Governors budget, before the budget
legislation was introduced in the legislature.
By law, the Governor is the one responsible for the states biennial budget, and the Department
of Administration is mandated to prepare the budget under the direction of the Governor. See
Wis. Stats. 16.4216.47. A candid, complete, and creative evaluation of the states finances
within DOA and within the Governors office is inherent to the development of the Governors
executive budget. Making these internal discussions just as open to disclosure as the final version
of the budget would inhibit the free exchange of ideas, opinions, proposals, and
WISCONSIN IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS
WWW.WISGOV.STATE.WI.US (608) 266-1212 FAX: (608) 267-8983

recommendations among those involved in deciding what to include in the final legislation.
Disclosure of this narrow category of recordslimited to discussions within DOA, within the
Governors office, and between the two--would discourage frank internal discussion and harm
the quality of the final executive decision. Further, it would disincentivize the free exchange of
emails and written documentation necessary to hone the precise language and calculations that
are key to proper budget development. Without a doubt, this would significantly inhibit the
efficiency and efficacy of the employees who develop the detailed language and financial
calculations for the budget. In addition, disclosure would risk public confusion as a result of
publishing non-final proposals, which may not ultimately have been adopted.
The public interests supporting nondisclosure here have long been nationally recognized,
including in federal law. See Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 USC 552(b)(5); Bureau of
National Affairs v. U.S. Department of Justice, 742 F.2d 1484 (D.C. Cir. 1984). Conversely, the
public interest in accessing these particular records is limited. All legislation is publicly available
once it is introduced, and numerous documents are produced and released to the public
explaining and justifying the specifics of the executive budget. Thus, pursuant to the required
balancing test, we have concluded that the public interest in protecting the quality of the
executive decision-making process and maintaining the efficiency and efficacy of the budget
writing process outweighs the public interest in the release of these materials.
Even putting the balancing test aside, these documents are not records within the meaning of
the public records law. The law specifically exempts from public disclosure drafts, notes,
preliminary computations, and like materials prepared for the originator's personal use or
prepared by the originator in the name of a person for whom the originator is working. Wis.
Stats. 19.32(2). These preliminary analyses and deliberations are drafts, preliminary
computations, and/or similar like materials that are prepared by individuals working for the
Governor on creation of the Governors biennial budget. Release of these preliminary materials
would be contrary to the conduct of government business, running counter to 19.32(2)s
exclusions and to the declaration of policy in Wis. Stat. 19.31.
Note that we have not analyzed communications with representatives of UW System or the
Legislative Reference Bureau under this reasoning. We are providing these communications
because it is our understanding that they are already publicly available.
Pursuant to Wis. Stat. 19.35(4)(b), these determinations are subject to review by mandamus
under Wis. Stat. 19.37(1) or upon application to a district attorney or the Attorney General.
This letter completes our response to your request. Thank you for contacting the office of
Governor Scott Walker.
Sincerely,

David J. Rabe
Assistant Legal Counsel

WISCONSIN IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS

WWW.WISGOV.STATE.WI.US (608) 266-1212 FAX: (608) 267-8983

EXHIBIT B

Walker Strikes Truth and Wisconsin Idea from UW Mission in Budget

By Jonas Persson and Mary Bottari, posted February 4, 2015
UPDATE Feb. 5th -- After first defending the language in DePere, Walker backed down after
being asked by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Dan Bice about the issue. Late in the day
Walker spokesperson Laurel Patrick told media outlets that the changes to the UW mission were
a "drafting error," and a Tweet from Walker made the same claim. The next day the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel reported that far from being a drafting error, the language was specifically
requested by the Walker administration.
In addition to unprecedented budget cuts to the University of Wisconsin (UW) system, Wisconsin
Governor Scott Walker struck "the search for truth" and the Wisconsin Idea from the university's
mission in his executive budget bill unveiled last night.
First summed up by UW President Charles Van Hise in 1904, the Wisconsin Idea means that "the
borders of the University are the borders of the state." Van Hise declared that he would never be
content until the beneficent influence of the university reaches every family in the state and this
has long been the core philosophy of the UW System, which has worked hard over the decades to
generate programs that serve people and communities all over the state.
Walker's executive budget (see below) amends Sec. 1111 of the statutes to remove language
specifying that the UW system has a public service mission to extend knowledge and its
application beyond the boundaries of its campus" and to "serve and stimulate society." He strikes
language ensuring that the mission of the UW is to extend "training and public service designed
to educate people and improve the human condition," as well as the language specifying that "the
search for truth" is "basic to every purpose of the system."
During the Progressive Era, legislator Robert M. La Follette suggested that the Wisconsin Idea
would help make Wisconsin a laboratory for democracy, and it has been linked to a series of
progressive reforms, such as workers compensation, the direct election of United States
Senators, and the non-partisan Legislative Reference Bureau. The mission of reaching every
family in the state is also closely linked to Wisconsin public radio and TV. The Walker budget
slashes $5 million in state funding from this important public service media.
In 1952, presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson gave a speech in Madison in which he reflected
on the Wisconsin Idea of the university serving the public interest. To him, there was more to it
than "a simple belief in the people." It also meant that: "the role of government was not to
stumble along like a drunkard in the dark, but to light its way by the best torches of knowledge it
could find."
The budget bill removes the text specifying that the UW System is created "in the public interest"
from the statute. In the new wording, it is established out of "constitutional obligation."
$300 Million Slashed From the UW System While Neighboring States Invest in Higher
Education

Walker also cut state funding for the UW System by $300 million. The unprecedented cut, which
amounts to 13 percent of the state funding for the university system and 2.5 percent of the total
budget, accompanied by a tuition freeze will result in the defunding of scores of departments and
jeopardize the livelihood of faculty and graduate students. Walker attempts to sweeten the cuts by
spinning off the system as a self-governing "public authority" similar to a port authority. The
Board of Regents appointed by the governor would be the governing body and the legislature and
the public would have less of a role in protecting academic freedom and other statutory rights.
The proposals come against the backdrop of four years of failed economic policies. The harsh
prescription of tax breaks for the rich and cuts in services for the poor that Governor Walker
promised would revitalize Wisconsin's economy and balance the budget have failed to do either.
Wisconsin remains 32nd in the nation in new job growth and the state faces a $2.2 billion dollar
deficit.
In a grim irony, the cut also comes amid reports that other states in the Midwest, such as
Minnesota (which recently reported a $1.04 billion budget surplus), Indiana, Iowa and Ohio, are
ramping up funding for its state universities, the Wisconsin State Journal reports.
Walker, who did not attend the UW system and failed to graduate from Marquette, seems to have
little grasp of the role the state university system plays in the economy. In fact, a 2011 impact
study found that the UW System, including alumni startups, generate $12.4 billion annually to the
Wisconsin economy, while supporting 128,146 Wisconsin jobs and generating $614 million in
state tax revenue.
Bipartisan Discontent as Walker Tries to Put an End to Public Higher Education
The cuts in Wisconsin higher education, and the apparent disregard for the fact that the UW
System is a motor for innovation in the state, has drawn the ire of lawmakers from both sides of
the aisle.
Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) deplored Walkers cut-and-run
policies that benefit the wealthy while glancing at neighboring states creating jobs, investing in
their communities and seeing strong budget surpluses.
Her Republican colleague Jerry Petrowski (R-Marathon) agreed, arguing that The UW System is
vital to our state and plays an important part in the development of technology and the
establishment of new businesses, thereby increasing the amount of jobs available in Wisconsin.

How Gov. Walker tried to quietly change the mission of the University
of Wisconsin
By Valerie Strauss, on February 5, 2015
You might think that changing the mission of a flagship public university would be an issue put
up for public discussion. Not in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker submitted a budget proposal that included language that would
have changed the century-old mission of the University of Wisconsin system known as the
Wisconsin Idea and embedded in the state code by removing words that commanded the
university to search for truth and improve the human condition and replacing them with
meet the states workforce needs.
Walker, in a budget speech given earlier this week, didnt bother to mention the change, which is
more than a simple issue of semantics. There is a national debate about what the role of colleges
and universities should be. One group, including Walker, see higher education in big part as a
training ground for workers in the American workplace; another sees college education as a way
to broaden the minds of young people and teach them how to be active, productive citizens of the
country.
After fierce public criticism, Walker, who recently said that faculty and staff throughout the
university system needed to work harder and who is seeking to cut funding for the university
system by $300 million over the next two years, said the change in language was a mistake. A
Walker aide called it drafting error, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Walker, in a statement (which you can read below), said the whole thing was a result of
miscommunication between his own staff and that of the university system. All he wanted, he
said, was to add the language about meeting workplace needs and not remove anything else. The
Journal-Sentinel, however, reported that Walkers office had requested in painstaking detail the
removal of phrases central to the Wisconsin Idea the guiding principle of the states public
university system for more than a century. And it said it found references in the budget proposal
in which the administration requested that the changes be made.
The paper said it discovered a Dec. 30 e-mail from state Department of Administration budget
analyst Nathan Schwanz that was sent to nonpartisan attorneys at the Wisconsin Legislative
Reference Bureau who were drafting the bill to make a number of changes to the mission
statement of the UW-System as it is enshrined in state statutes. Then, on Jan. 12, the newspaper
reported, he sent another e-mail explicitly saying that the Walker administration wanted changes
made; it said: To extend knowledge and its application beyond the boundaries of its campuses
should be removed.
Academics were, of course, furious. The paper quoted University of Wisconsin System President
Ray Cross as saying:

The Wisconsin Idea is embedded in our DNA. It is so much more than words on a page. It is the
reason the UW System exists. It defines us and forever will distinguish us as a great public
university.
Heres Walkers statement:
We encourage a vigorous debate over the idea of an authority to govern the University of
Wisconsin system or the status quo, as well as a debate about what is the real amount of savings
that can be generated by an authority, which we believe is worth $150 million a year. However,
there is no debate over the principles contained within the Wisconsin Idea. We are, and have
been, in agreement.
So how did a change to the Wisconsin Idea get into the budget?
While we had extensive discussions about the merits of an authority and about variations of how
higher education is organized in other states, my staff, the state budget team, and I did not have
much discussion about the mission statement. The only real mention was about adding something
to existing language related to workforce development.
Staff from the UW, the state budget office, and my office met several times to discuss the
authority idea. In anticipation of these meetings, draft language was prepared by the state budget
shop to serve as a starting point. At this initial meeting, my Chief of Staff directed the state
budget office and the UW to continue working on statutory language changes and to elevate
concerns or disagreements to his attention when agreement could not be reached. The guiding
principle was to keep this process simple because the main focus was on providing the maximum
amount of flexibility under the new authority.
Staff from the UW System reviewed drafts of the budget language on various occasions, so I
was surprised we had not heard concerns about the final version. Late on Wednesday, my Chief
of Staff spoke again with UW System staff and found that they had raised a concern with the state
budget office about the specific language. Unfortunately, when my office told the budget staff to
keep it simple, they took that to mean that we only wanted workforce readiness language in the
mission when we really wanted the language added to the existing mission statement. They also
responded to UW staff that this change was not open for discussion because they were told to
keep it simple and only add in workforce readiness language.
Clearly, changing the Wisconsin Idea serves no purpose. That is why I made it clear on
Wednesday that we would not change it in the budget. It is not a change of heart. It was a simple
miscommunication during the natural back and forth of this process.
The real debate should be about two things: 1) governance of the UW System and 2) how much
an authority is worth in savings.
In the 2003/05 state budget, former Governor Jim Doyle cut the UW by $250 million. He did
not give them reforms to make up for the lost state aid. They made up most of it with higher
tuition.
Our proposal gives new cost-saving reforms to the UW though an authoritywhile freezing
tuition. We believe it is a good plan. Let the debate begin.

Gov. Walkers Drafting Error

By the Editorial Board, on February 6, 2015
It was not enough for Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin suddenly to propose a destructive 13
percent cut in state support for the University of Wisconsins widely respected system. His
biennial budget plan, released Tuesday, reached gratuitously into the universitys hallowed 111year-old mission statement to delete a bedrock principle: Basic to every purpose of the system is
the search for truth.
The budget patently tailored for the governors conservative campaign for the Republican
presidential nomination inserted language that the university should be more narrowly
concerned with meeting the states work force needs.
Brazenly deleted as well from the mission statement, which is nationally appreciated in education
circles as the Wisconsin Idea, were the far from controversial goals to educate people and
improve the human condition and serve and stimulate society. It was as if a trade school
agenda were substituted for the idea of a university.
But Mr. Walker badly miscalculated in the state at least, and perhaps even with the national
constituency he is furiously courting in campaign trips and in his fund-raising. The citizens of
Wisconsin, clearly more appreciative of the state university than is their governor, erupted
through social media and news outlets, sending Mr. Walker into retreat a day later. His office
attempted the ridiculous excuse that the pernicious editing of the universitys mission was simply
a drafting error in the budget text and that the Wisconsin Idea would be left intact after all. But
a December email showed clear instructions from the administration to make the deletions.
Mr. Walker came to national prominence four years ago with his attacks on collective bargaining
rights and attempts to curtail the benefits of state workers. His new budget doubles down on his
recent complaints that university faculty and staff do not work hard enough, insisting that the 26campus, 180,000-student system could absorb the $300 million state cut he proposed.
Even fellow Republican legislative leaders quickly shied away from the governors ideologically
driven thrust at the university ethos. Even without the ridiculous changes to the mission
statement, the Legislature must firmly resist Mr. Walkers regressive budget, because it includes
the university cut and a vaguely detailed plan to transfer university control to a quasigovernmental authority.
The budget also offers virtually no significant increase in public school funding while increasing
voucher support for private and religious schools at taxpayers expense. It includes another
shibboleth of the hard-right agenda a requirement for drug testing of those seeking a variety of
public benefits.
All of that may be red meat for conservative zealots in the caucus and on the presidential primary
circuit. Yet it is hard to see such a clumsy attack on education going far with a general electorate
concerned about their childrens chances in life. If nothing else, Mr. Walker is sharpening the
debate within the Republican Party about whether it can win despite its own extremists.

Scott Walker Needs an Eraser

By Gail Collins, on February 13, 2015
Lately, the big star in the race for the Republican presidential nomination has been Scott Walker,
the governor of Wisconsin. He gave a rip-roaring speech at a conservative confab in Iowa last
month, and its been his moment ever since.
Unless the moment ended this week when Walker went to London on an alleged trade mission
and refused to say whether he believes in evolution. Or pretty much anything.
For me, commenting on foreign policy or, in this case, economic policy in a country where
youre a visitor is not the politest of things, he told a BBC journalist.
Who knows how that will fly with the Republican base? Maybe theyre dying for a president
wholl go on an international trip and confine his remarks to the virtues of Wisconsin cheese.
But about that Iowa speech: It was really a rouser. Basically, Walker talked about the
comprehensive conservative common-sense conservative agenda hes imposed on Wisconsin.
His common-sense examples included making it easier for people to carry lethal weapons around
the state and defunding the main organization that helps low-income Wisconsin women with
family planning.
Mainly, though, The Speech was about waging war on public employee unions, particularly the
ones for teachers. In 2010, there was a young woman named Megan Sampson who was honored
as the outstanding teacher of the year in my state. And not long after she got that distinction, she
was laid off by her school district, said Walker, lacing into teacher contracts that require layoffs
be done by seniority. All of that came as a distinct surprise to Claudia Felske, a member of the
faculty at East Troy High School who actually was named a Wisconsin Teacher of the Year in
2010. In a phone interview, Felske said she still remembers when she got the news at a surprise
pep assembly at my school.
Actually, Wisconsin names four teachers of the year, none of which has ever been Megan
Sampson, who won an award for first-year English teachers given by a nonprofit group. But do
not blame any of this on Sampson, poor woman, who was happily working at a new school in
2011 when Walker made her the star victim in an anti-union opinion piece in The Wall Street
Journal. At the time, she expressed a strong desire not to be used as a poster child for this
political agenda, and you would think that after that the governor would leave her alone. Or at
least stop saying she was teacher of the year.
When it comes to education, Walker seems prone toward this sort of intellectual hiccup. Just
recently, he released a proposed budget that would have changed the University of Wisconsins
mission statement by eliminating the bits about the search for truth, educating people and
serving society, in favor of the educational goal of meeting the states work force needs. When
all hell broke loose, Walker blamed that one on a drafting error.
Is this a pattern? teacher-of-the-year Felske wondered.

That budget also contains another interesting education idea that Walker has yet to blame on inept
typists. He wants to change the way teachers are licensed. Basically, the plan would be to let
people with real-life experience just take a test to demonstrate that they knew their subject
matter. It appears to require no training whatsoever in the actual art of teaching.
Teaching is more than just knowing stuff, protested Tony Evers, the state superintendent of
public instruction. It is an extraordinarily complex skill. You may not be surprised to hear that
in Wisconsin, the superintendent of education is not appointed by the governor. Evers was elected
on his own, and his office is extremely unhappy about Walkers new plan.
We dont know the origins of this idea. It wasnt discussed, said John Johnson, a spokesman for
the superintendent. Were requiring more rigor of our students, but this certainly seems like a
decrease in the rigor we require of our teachers.
The idea could very well become law, whether the educators like it or not, since the Wisconsin
Legislature often makes policy changes as part of the budget. We will have to let Wisconsinites
worry about that.
But it gives us a fresh look at the wave of attacks on teachers unions around the country. We
definitely do not want to protect incompetent or lazy teachers. On the other hand, if you believe
that teaching is a skill that it takes years of practice to master, you also do not want to encourage
politicians to save money by canning the most expensive and most experienced teachers.
Not a problem for Scott Walker. His view of teaching is apparently that anybody can do it. Just
the way anybody can be president. As long as they dont make you talk about evolution.
Correction: February 19, 2015
Gail Collinss column on Saturday incorrectly stated that teacher layoffs in Milwaukee in 2010
happened because Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin cut state aid to education. The layoffs were
made by the citys school system because of a budget shortfall, before Mr. Walker took office in
2011.

Save the Wisconsin Idea

By Christine Evans, assistant professor of history at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee, on February 16, 2015
MILWAUKEE EARLIER this month, Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin and potential
Republican presidential candidate, unveiled a proposed budget that would cut $300 million of
funds to the University of Wisconsin system and shift power over tuition from the Legislature to a
new public authority controlled by appointed regents. The initial draft of Mr. Walkers budget bill
also proposed to rewrite the universitys 110-year-old mission statement, known as the Wisconsin
Idea, deleting the search for truth and replacing it with language about meeting the states
work-force needs.
This attack, surely meant to impress possible donors to the governors potential presidential
campaign, squanders the inheritance of all Wisconsinites: an affordable, top-ranked university
system that attracts students and scholars from around the world and is a major contributor to the
states economy. Criticism prompted the governor to restore the Wisconsin Ideas wording, but
the budget cuts remained.
Mr. Walkers action implies that Wisconsinites no longer share their parents and grandparents
values. He suggests that a university system with a mission to educate people and improve the
human condition is no longer a priority here. He is wrong.
I teach history, a discipline that is always in the cross hairs of cuts designed to make a public
university education more practical. But my students have shown me that they find the study of
the past very relevant to their lives.
Many have already had careers when they come through my classroom door. Quite a few are
military veterans, others have worked in factories and trades. We have a masters degree student
who runs a successful local business; other graduate students are former teachers who intend to
return to their schools.
These students do not come to our university to get basic vocational skills or a modest-paying
job. They already have those things, and they want more.
One recently returned veteran in my 20th-century Russia class was struggling emotionally. The
tone of his questions could be hostile or abrupt. He missed classes because of medical
appointments at Veterans Affairs. Then, a few days before a paper on Aleksandr Solzhenitsyns
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and Varlam Shalamovs Kolyma Tales was due, he
wrote to me. The descriptions of the Soviet gulag brought back his experiences of fear and
privation as an infantryman. He wondered if other vets had been similarly unsettled.
I urged him to write about his experiences, because his story mattered. We met to get him back on
track academically. I was so proud when he passed.
Signs that my students know what a humanities education is worth abound in more everyday
moments as well. When, in an introductory lecture, I offhandedly mentioned Andrei Belys

Petersburg, a novel about terrorism and revolution in Russia, undergraduates lined up to ask me
to repeat the details, so that they could read it on their own time.
I ran into a former student recently and he mentioned that his mother was looking forward to
reading the books from our class last year. One history major, an avid gun collector, commuted
five hours each way from rural Wisconsin to take my historical methods class.
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where I work, is an urban research university that has
been nationally recognized for service to the community. Twenty million dollars our campuss
likely share of the cuts represents the entire annual budget of our business school, or our
college of engineering, or our schools of public health, information studies and social welfare
combined. Which should we eliminate to help students prepare for real world jobs?
We should reject Mr. Walkers claim that he knows best what the limits of Wisconsin students
education should be. As my students understand, the humanities train critical thinkers and
citizens. That may be inconvenient for politicians who see their constituents as merely a work
force, but it is definitely good for our democracy, as well as our economy.
Students like mine are the ones who will be hurt most directly by Mr. Walkers proposed
changes. The experiences of the Wisconsin system and that of other state universities show that
when state funding is cut, regents raise tuition sharply to compensate. Students pay more and get
less. This has already happened in Louisiana, where Gov. Bobby Jindal has implemented
similarly drastic cuts to the public university system. During his time in office, tuition at public
universities in the state has nearly doubled.
The Wisconsin Idea has been a national model for over a century. Mr. Walkers assault on it is
meant as a model, too a guide for dismantling the public universities weve all inherited.

Gov. Walker, eyeing a 2016 bid, picks new fight in Wisconsin:

Universities
By Robert Samuels, on February 16, 2015
MADISON, Wis. Gov. Scott Walker has cited his experience battling unions here four years
ago as proof that voters appreciate a political leader willing to go big and go bold.
So as he woos supporters around the country for a possible presidential bid, Walker (R) is once
again picking a fight against a powerful institution at home public universities.
Walkers new budget proposal would slash $300 million from the University of Wisconsin
system over the next two years. Thats a 13 percent reduction in state funding.
The cut, Walker said, is a fair exchange for a two-year tuition freeze and new flexibility long
sought by administrators to set pay scales and campus construction priorities. But the plan is
drawing angry responses from school officials and students as the states Republican-led
legislature takes it up.
Walker drew a direct line between his 2011 battle against his states public-sector unions, which
sparked mass protests and made him a national GOP star, and his new quest to transform higher
education.
Its very much like what we did four years ago, he said last week during a trip to London,
which was billed as a trade mission but was widely seen as a move by Walker to gain some
foreign policy expertise.
It is unusual for a governor pondering a presidential run to take on what could be an allconsuming political brawl at home and a distraction from the coast-to-coast travel and
fundraising required to build a national campaign.
But the university budget debate has a clear upside for Walker, who is shaping his political brand
around the idea that he does not shy away from a fight. Whether or not he succeeds in
transforming the universities, the battle itself, coming in the midst of Walkers effort to rise
above a crowded field of prospective Republican presidential candidates, is likely to play well
with conservative voters who see universities as elite institutions and hotbeds of left-leaning
activism.
In Wisconsin, university advocates say their schools could be a far more difficult target for
Walker, with a broader and deeper base of support than the unions had.
Hundreds of students and faculty members protested on campuses last weekend, and organizers
said that was only the beginning. Officials from the states flagship campus in Madison have
begun to tap into the schools large network of alumni and other supporters to encourage
opposition to Walkers plan.

A harbinger of what Walker might face came in an immediate uproar on social media this month
after his staff proposed changing the universitys ethereal focus on the pursuit of truth, known as
the Wisconsin Idea, to a grittier focus on workforce needs.
Critics charged that Walker, who did not graduate from college, was disrespecting the traditions
of the University of Wisconsin. Walker immediately backed off and described the change as a
mistake.
Still, Rebecca Blank, chancellor of the Madison campus, emphasized protecting university
traditions as part of a letter she sent to 160,000 alumni. It urged alumni to lobby their local
lawmakers so that we can continue to provide Wisconsin students with an outstanding education,
and serve the state in the best tradition of the Wisconsin Idea.
Michael Fahey, managing director of the UW-Madison alumni association, said he is reaching out
to the universitys 400,000 alums around the world.
We know that Wisconsin alumni represent the full spectrum of political opinions, but we have
been pleased that alumni are eager to lend their voice to the campaign, Fahey said.
In his remarks in London, Walker predicted that his proposed changes to universities would lead
to the same kind of improvements that his 2011 law brought about in K-12 schools and local
governments. Curbing collective bargaining for most public-sector unions, a core piece of that
law, gave officials more freedom to operate efficiently and effectively, he said.
And he noted that, just as his children attended public schools back then, he has a personal stake
in the university system today, with a son attending UW-Madison.
People said [the 2011 law] would be the death of public education in my state, Walker said.
Back then I had two kids in public high schools, and I said I have a vested interest then, just like
I do now in the UW system. ... With our authority, the same thing will happen with the
University of Wisconsin system.
Walker aides said the proposed budget cuts are part of his philosophy of reforming government
rather than raising taxes or merely cutting spending.
Laurel Patrick, a Walker spokeswoman, said the governors proposal would give university
officials much of what they have wanted. For years, administrators at the University of
Wisconsin have said that getting out from under the bureaucracy of state government would allow
them to achieve considerable savings in areas like purchasing, construction and hiring, she said.
Democrats say Walker is putting his national ambitions ahead of state needs. Besides the
university cuts, they note that his budget plan includes other items popular with conservatives,
such as drug testing for public benefits, expanded K-12 vouchers and less money for public
broadcasting.
State Sen. Jennifer Shilling (D), the Senate minority leader, said the state budget proposal looks
like a presidential document.
Although Shilling said she does not expect protests as large as those in 2011, she said that more
people will find themselves in the crosshairs with his budget. Dont underestimate the intelligence
of Wisconsinites: They know this is fodder for a presidential campaign.

University administrators have been blunt in their criticism of the governor, while other advocates
have sought to build grass-roots opposition to the plan.
In a public meeting last week with hundreds of faculty members, students and staffers, Blank, the
UW-Madison chancellor, said the cuts would undoubtedly lead to higher tuition for out-of-state
students.
There will surely be layoffs, she said as some audience members groaned. These cuts are too
big too handle. Theyre too big for the university and too big for the state.
In rural communities, an e-mail chain initiated by the states teachers union encourages residents
to put green lights outside their homes to show their support for the university. On Saturday, more
than 300 students protested in single-digit temperatures. One person held a sign referring to the
schools mascot that read: The Wisconsin Badger is an Endangered Species.
Eleni Schirmer, a fourth-year graduate student who helps lead the teaching-assistant associations,
said the budget cuts represent another epochal time for the university. She was in her first year
when Capitol Square in Madison filled with protesters, and she said she became so fascinated that
studying unions became part of her graduate work. She said activists are reinvigorated.
Walkers pretty bold, she said. If he has presidential aspirations, were going to show what he
is willing to put at stake to get there, and that is the life of the university.
Ray Cross, the president of the university system, which includes 13 four-year schools and 13
two-year schools, said the possible cuts came as a disappointment. He had proposed a $95 million
increase in funding. Cross said he and his staff have been poring over budget documents and
spreadsheets to find cuts. He said he wants to assess multiple scenarios before determining how
bad downsizing could be, for fear of crying wolf.
Walkers team has played down the impact, saying the cuts would amount to a 2.5 percent
reduction in the university systems $6 billion budget. Walker has suggested increasing
professors workloads to help make up the difference.
We didnt know the details until a few days before the budget was released, Cross said. We
are going to be a dramatically different organization at the end of this. It is a statement from the
state that we want you to be smaller, a more streamlined organization.
Still, Cross could not hide his frustration. Looking out his 17th-floor window from the university
administration building, up the street from the state Capitol, he joked: Sometimes I want to
throw water on it.

2016 Ambitions Seen in Walkers Push for University Cuts in Wisconsin

By Julie Bosman, on February 16, 2015
MADISON, Wis. Atop a steep hill on the University of Wisconsin campus is a granite boulder
affixed with a bronze plaque honoring the university systems lofty mission: to benefit the entire
state by promoting public service and a search for truth.
Summed up in one phrase the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state
the mission statement, known as the Wisconsin Idea, has been cherished by educators and
graduates for a century. So whenGov. Scott Walker, a second-term Republican, presented a
budget this month proposing to delete some of its most soaring passages, as well as to sharply cut
state aid to the system, he ignited a furious backlash that crossed party and regional lines.
We were really upset about it, said Tony Sumnicht, the student body president at the University
of Wisconsin, River Falls, a small college in the western part of the state, echoing a sentiment
voiced by some Republican lawmakers. The Wisconsin Idea is the philosophy that during our
years in college we live and learn by.
Rebecca M. Blank, the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, spoke on Friday
during a question-and-answer forum on the proposed cuts. CreditBen Brewer for The New York
Times
Mr. Walker hastily backtracked, attributing the proposed changes which included inserting a
call to meet the states work-force needs to a drafting error by aides.
But to many Wisconsinites, it appeared that this was no mistake, and that the governor, who was
re-elected in November, was intentionally sending a pugnacious message to an audience beyond
the boundaries of his state: the conservative caucus voters of neighboring Iowa, the first stop in
the presidential sweepstakes.
Mr. Walker, who gained the national adoration of Republicans during his first term by taking on
labor unions and limiting collective bargaining for public workers, has recently made it clear that
he is seriously considering a bid for the presidency in 2016, and in recent days he confirmed that
his political organization had leased office space in suburban Des Moines. He spent much of last
week on a four-day trade mission in London, on the heels of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey,
another potential contender for the White House.
Mr. Walkers budget, which must be approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature, calls for
a 13 percent cut in state aid across the university system, with its 13 four-year universities and
180,000 students, for a total decrease of $300 million over the next two years.
The governor, who has a son at the universitys Madison campus, has said that the cuts should go
hand in hand with a promise to give greater autonomy to the system, a move that he said would
free it to trim costs. Laurel Patrick, a spokeswoman for Mr. Walker, said in an email that the $300
million cut was only 2.5 percent of the total U.W. System operating budget.

Governor Walker is proposing to provide the University of Wisconsin System with the authority
and flexibility that it has been seeking for years, while freezing tuition for two years to maintain
college affordability for our states hard-working families, she said. These reforms will give the
U.W. System the power to transform higher education in this state for the future by empowering
leaders, protecting taxpayers and promoting long-term stability.
But to his critics, Mr. Walker, in both his proposed cuts and in the discussion that arose over the
Wisconsin Idea, is trying to capitalize on a view that is popular among many conservatives: that
state universities have become elite bastions of liberal academics that do not prepare students for
work and are a burden on taxpayers.
This is a budget that serves Scott Walker for president, and it doesnt serve Wisconsin, said Jon
Erpenbach, a Democratic state senator. Hes trying to appeal to the most conservative of
conservatives, the Republican voters in early-polling states. And theres 5.5 million people back
home saying, Wait a minute.
Even some of Mr. Walkers supporters, who cheered his initial run for the governorship and
helped him survive a recall election in 2012, said they were questioning the governors budget
proposal and its potential consequences for higher education.
We are now facing a cut that will absolutely savage the infrastructure and quality of teaching
and research to this university, said John Sharpless, a Republican who is a history professor at
the Madison campus. What would be a shame for us in Wisconsin is if Scott leaves a wake of
damage here on his way to the presidency.
In an interview in her office here, Rebecca M. Blank, the chancellor of the Madison campus, said
that if the governors budget was approved, she would have to raise out-of-state tuition and
institute layoffs. She added that the proposed cuts were so large that if she eliminated five schools
nursing, law, business, pharmacy and veterinary medicine she would still have to find other
ways to trim costs.
This is really big, in terms of its size on my education program, Ms. Blank said.
Many residents in the liberal enclave of Madison, where Mr. Walker is deeply unpopular, see his
willingness to slash funding for higher education as a reminder of his background: Mr. Walker
abruptly dropped out of Marquette University, a Jesuit institution in Milwaukee, during the spring
semester of his senior year.
Walker doesnt value the university, said Jessi Mulhall, a government worker, pausing during a
chilly walk down State Street, near the campus. He has disdain for anything intellectual. He
doesnt care if the populace is educated.
Others shrugged off criticism of the governor, suggesting that many people in Madison were still
furious at Mr. Walker for curtailing the power of labor unions.
My guess is that this is just about the economy, Eric Johnson, who teaches a gardening course
on campus, said as he walked down State Street on a recent afternoon.
Mr. Walker also suggested, in a comment that infuriated university faculty and staff members,
that professors could help make savings by teaching an additional class per semester.
In the interview, Ms. Blank bristled at the notion that professors are not working hard enough.
Our teaching loads look a lot like the teaching loads at other top universities, she said.

One scientist at the university, Andras Fodor, said he had been lured to Madison from his native
Hungary by its reputation as a top research institution. In my field, it is one of the best
universities, he said. That reputation is a terrible thing to destroy.
But Republicans in the Legislature said that educators were exaggerating the impact of the cuts.
Scott L. Fitzgerald, a Republican who is the Senate majority leader, said in an interview that
while the budget called for a significant reduction in higher education funding, he had had very
little response from his constituents so far.
Some campuses have cash reserves that they can draw from to reduce the pain from budget cuts,
he said, though I would suspect that the impact would probably be more severe on a smaller
campus that doesnt have a lot of cash in reserve.
Some Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns about the depth of the proposed cuts,
raising the possibility that the Legislature will try to soften them.
People take a lot of pride in U.W.-Madison its one of the crown jewels of the state, said
Kerry Lechner, the editor of The Portage Daily Register, a newspaper in central Wisconsin. I
dont think the Legislature will rubber-stamp this budget. It will have a lot of scrutiny and a lot of
debate.

Scott Walker Objects to the Search for Truth

By John Nichols on February 4, 2015
UPDATE (2-3-15) 5:30 pm: Facing sharp criticism for proposing to abandon the University of
Wisconsins public-service mission statement, as outlined in state statutes, Wisconsin Governor
Scott Walker on Wednesday afternoon abruptly dropped the plan. Criticized for attacking the
Wisconsin Idea and the states historic commitment to academic inquiry, the all-but-announced
2016 presidential candidate shifted course less than twenty-four hours after making his proposal,
which came as part of a broader assault on higher education funding. Walker claimed the lineby-line proposal for changing the statutes was a drafting error. The following article provides
background and context regarding the prospective presidential candidates stumble.
Americans have returned to the question of whether the Republican Party has launched a war on
scienceas 2016 presidential prospects Chris Christie and Rand Paul haveabandoned publichealth imperatives in order to feed skepticism about whether children should be vaccinated
against infectious diseases.
But Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has trumped his fellow 2016 contenders.
Walker is launching a war on the truth.
Literally.
As part of a broader attempt to diminish the states support for, and ties to, the University of
Wisconsin System, Walker wants to strike Wisconsin Idea language from state statutes
including references to public service and a commitment to search for truth.
The Wisconsin Idea, which is much discussed but not always so much understood in the present
day, has always been always been about seeking the truth, and about applying the results of that
search not just to curriculum choices but to the policies and programs of the state.
The statutes of the state of Wisconsin detail a vision of the role of the University of Wisconsin
rooted in this Wisconsin Idea, which holds that the mission of the UW is both to educate students
and to provide information and ideas to solve the challenges facing the state and its citizens.
Outlined more than a century ago in the language of longtime University of Wisconsin President
Charles Van Hise, Governor Robert M. La Follette and their progressive allies, the Wisconsin
Idea has always held that the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state.
What this meant, practically, was that when farmers faced a challenge, UW professors did
research to help them address it. When city officials were looking to improve sanitation, UW
professors provided assistance. When state and local officials were looking to assure that
elections were fair and functional, UW professors analyzed and responded to proposals. And
when new technologies developed, such as radio and television, the UW utilized them to spread

knowledge and ideas to Wisconsinites who might never set foot on a campus. (Notably, Walkers
budget also proposes cuts to Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television.)
The Wisconsin Idea has always held that democracy requires an informed and engaged citizenry,
and that academics and researchers should pursue the truth in order to serve that citizenry.
For decades, this vision has been detailed in the Wisconsin Statutes that reference the UW
System. The mission of the system is to develop human resources, to discover and disseminate
knowledge, to extend knowledge and its application beyond the boundaries of its campuses and to
serve and stimulate society by developing in students heightened intellectual, cultural and
humane sensitivities, scientific, professional and technological expertise and a sense of purpose,
the statutes explain. Inherent in this broad mission are methods of instruction, research, extended
training and public service designed to educate people and improve the human condition. Basic to
every purpose of the system is the search for truth.
With his presentation Tuesday night of a new state budget plan that will also serve as a
touchstone for his presidential campaign, Governor Walker proposed to cut $300 million in
higher-education funding as part of plan to remake the UW System as a public authority with
increased flexibilities. In legislative documents outlining how the plan would be implemented,
Walker and his team suggested a rewrite of the statutes that strikes the call to extend knowledge
and its application beyond the boundaries of its campuses and to serve and stimulate society. He
also wants to remove the closing lines that read: Inherent in this broad mission are methods of
instruction, research, extended training and public service designed to educate people and
improve the human condition. Basic to every purpose of the system is the search for truth.
Walker has never made a secret of his disdain for Wisconsins progressive heritage, and his
policies have evidenced his disregard for the Wisconsin Idea. But disdain and disregard are one
thing. Eliminating references to the search for truthand to using that truth to improve the
human conditionis something else altogether.
There were many incidents that helped to forge Wisconsins commitment to freedom of inquiry
and to the use of the inquiry to serve students and the state. The most famous of these came in the
1890s, when state officials pressured the UW to remove Professor Richard T. Ely from his
position as director of the School of Economics, Political Science and History at the University.
The charge was that Ely was too engaged with efforts in the community to improve social
conditions and to expand the rights of workers. The controversy was as bitter as it was intense.
But ultimately the UW Board of Regents rejected the pressure to limit the schools search for
truth and its engagement with the issues and challenges facing Wisconsin.
Their defense of Ely is quoted on a plaque on the UW campus that reads: Whatever may be the
limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere we believe the great state University of Wisconsin
should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth
can be found.
The Wisconsin Idea has always been about the search for truth, at the UW and beyond.
When Scott Walker attacks that search, he attacks not just the UW but Wisconsin; not just public
service, but the pursuit of truth in service to the public.

Walker proposes changing Wisconsin Idea then backs away

By Karen Herzog, on February 4, 2015
Stunned educators accused Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday of trying to kill the Wisconsin Idea,
which has guided the mission of the state's public higher education system for more than a
century.
And although the governor backed away from his early position, both university officials and his
own words seemed to contradict how the issue unfolded.
"The Wisconsin Idea is embedded in our DNA," University of Wisconsin System President Ray
Cross. "It is so much more than words on a page. It is the reason the UW System exists. It defines
us and forever will distinguish us as a great public university."
Update: Documents show Walker administration sought removal of UW's Wisconsin Idea in
December
First articulated in 1904, the Wisconsin Idea states that the mission of the UW System is to solve
problems and improve people's lives beyond the classroom. The core principle is that "the
boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state."
Walker hadn't alluded to changing the UW System's mission during his budget speech Tuesday
night; it does not appear he had ever mentioned it publicly.
But in the proposed budget he released Tuesday, the governor made the UW System's mission to
"meet the state's workforce needs." He also proposed striking language about public service and
improving the human condition, and deleting the phrase: "Basic to every purpose of the system is
the search for truth."
Late Wednesday afternoon long after stories about the governor's effort lighted up social
media and news websites Walker backed away when confronted by Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel columnist Daniel Bice. He said the new language was a drafting error and "kind of a
nonissue because that's not a problem with us."
Walker implied at an event in Oconomowoc that UW System officials saw the language and
"somehow overlooked" the changes. "We have no problem" reinserting the Wisconsin Idea, he
said. "Our focus is on creating an authority that gives them full flexibility, and not on changing
the mission." Cross immediately issued a one-sentence statement thanking the governor for his
commitment to the Wisconsin Idea.
However, UW officials did raise objections before the budget proposal was released, according to
Alex Hummel, associate vice president for communications.

Further, at a stop in De Pere earlier in the day, Walker made no mention of any drafting error.
"The focus would be honed in, in particular to look at making sure that we prepare individuals in
this state, be they fresh out of high school or coming back later in life, for the jobs and
opportunities available in the state," Walker said.
"Learning's important, but ultimately it's most important for people to get the chance to get the
education that they need to succeed in the workforce and in life," he added, according to the
Wisconsin Radio Network.
'I'm nearly speechless'
The controversy erupted as the governor is proposing $300 million in cuts to the UW System in
the next two years, while giving the schools new flexibility in how they operate. It also came just
a week after Walker suggested faculty and staff on UW campuses should be teaching more
classes and working harder.
Word of the governor's move, first reported by the Center for Media and Democracy, spread
quickly across the UW System's 13 four-year and 13 two-year campuses.
"I'm nearly speechless," said Mark Schwartz, a UW-Milwaukee distinguished professor
geography and chairman of the faculty University Committee. "The budget cuts are one thing.
This aims at the heart of the Wisconsin Idea and smashes it."
Others saw the language on workforce training as reflecting a narrow understanding of why a
university exists similar to how his comments on faculty workload were seen as not fully
appreciating what university educators do. Walker himself does not have a degree.
"It's a very materialistic definition of knowledge that's very off-putting to me," said James
Baughman, a historian and Fetzer-Bascom professor at UW-Madison's School of Journalism and
Mass Communication.
"We aren't just training people to be workers," Baughman said. "We're training them to be
citizens, to be leaders. It's not that we don't have a responsibility to serve people to get training,
but it's a lot more than that."
Some critics immediately compared Walker's action to the surprise introduction in 2011 of Act
10, which all but ended collective bargaining for most public employee unions.
A source of state pride
To this day some educators begin their courses by impressing the Wisconsin Idea on students,
telling them that what they are learning does not exist in a vacuum, but is intended to help people.
UW-Madison has an entire web page devoted to the Wisconsin Idea, listing more than 1,000
recent examples of the flagship's service to the state. It spans teaching, research, outreach and
public service.
Cross was chancellor of the UW Colleges and UW Extension before becoming UW System
president a year ago. The Wisconsin Idea is central to the mission of UW Extension, which
reaches all 72 counties of Wisconsin. In speeches to community groups across the state, Cross
talks expansively about the merits of the Wisconsin Idea and how it drives quality.
"Wisconsin must not abandon this core principle and value," Cross said.

In his budget, Walker struck statutory language that says the UW System's mission is "to extend
knowledge and its application beyond the boundaries of its campus" and to "serve and stimulate
society..." He also struck language that the mission is "to extend training and public service
designed to educate people and improve the human condition."
Walker's proposed mission statement instead says: "The mission of the system is to develop
human resources to meet the state's workforce needs, to discover and disseminate knowledge, and
to develop in students heightened intellectual, cultural, and humane sensitivities, scientific,
professional and technological expertise, and a sense of purpose."
UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank is expected to voice strong concern about the governor's
proposals when she speaks Thursday before the UW Board of Regents.
In the meantime, @BeckyBlank reassured her campus on Twitter: "The Wisconsin Idea is and
always will be central to the mission of this university."
Leave it alone
In the hours after the news of Walker's changes broke, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (RRochester) said he would prefer to leave it to the UW System as to whether changes should be
made to its mission statement.
"I think every once in a while taking a look at our mission statement is important, but it probably
shouldn't be done in the context of the million decisions we make in the budget," he said. "It
should probably be the authority, the regents, the chancellor, the president of the system all taking
an opportunity to work on it together."
Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton), who sits on the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee, said
the proposed change was absurd, calling the Wisconsin Idea a model for the country.
"I really believe the governor has lost his bearings as to who he is and what he does," he said.
"His job is not to rewrite the Wisconsin Idea. It's to promote the Wisconsin Idea."
Walker said in a tweet late Wednesday that the final budget will include the Wisconsin Idea in the
UW System's mission.
Daniel Bice and Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

Walker forced to admit UW objected to Wisconsin Idea changes

By Jason Stein, Patrick Marley and Karen Herzog, on February 5, 2015
Madison Gov. Scott Walker and aides scrambled Thursday to respond to revelations that his
administration had insisted to University of Wisconsin officials on scrapping the Wisconsin Idea,
the guiding principle for the state's universities for more than a century.
In a rapid revision to his own comments on Wednesday, the Republican governor acknowledged
that UW System officials had raised objections about the proposal.
They had been told the changes were not open to debate.
While backtracking on earlier comments to reporters, Walker continued to insist in
a statement that he hadn't known what his own administration was doing until after the proposal
became public and caused a firestorm of criticism.
He said no one would be disciplined.
First articulated in 1904, the Wisconsin Idea states that the mission of the UW System is to solve
problems and improve people's lives beyond the classroom. That mission encompasses teaching,
research, outreach and public service.
The governor's budget, released Tuesday evening, proposed spinning off the UW System as a
separate entity, cutting its state funding by $300 million over two years and making its mission to
"meet the state's workforce needs." It proposed striking UW principles in state law about proving
public service, improving the human condition, and searching for truth. It also eliminated the
venerated concept that the boundaries of the university extend to the boundaries of the state.
On Jan. 29 five days before Walker introduced his budget the UW System's John Yingling
sent an email to the state budget office flagging concerns about the proposed changes and then
followed up by phone. Yingling is a special assistant to Ray Cross, the system's president.
"We strongly urge that stricken language is unique to depicting the character, mission, and vision
of the UW System," Yingling wrote, according to an email released Thursday under the state's
open records law.
On Wednesday, Walker initially expressed no concerns when questioned by a reporter about the
proposed changes to the system's mission statements.
"Learning's important, but ultimately it's most important for people to get the chance to get the
education they need to succeed in the workforce and in life," Walker said during a stop in De
Pere, according to Wisconsin Radio Network.

But later that day, he backed away from the changes by saying they had been included because of
a drafting error or oversight in his budget. He further implied that UW System officials saw the
changes and "somehow overlooked" them.
On Thursday he acknowledged that, in fact, UW System officials had thrown up red flags and
been rebuffed.
"To me, in the end it was a confusion out there," Walker said of the proposed changes. "It was a
mistake that someone made. Someone assumed one thing when the idea was we weren't going to
add anything more (to the budget), they assumed that that meant we were going to keep a blank,
simple mission statement. That's why I immediately said yesterday in a tweet, 'It's no big deal.' "
Walker made his comments soon after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Thursday that the
drafting file for the budget bill showed two instances one in December and another in January
in which the Walker administration's budget shop requested the specific changes to the
mission statement.
Later, he released the long statement attempting a further explanation.
In a separate statement, Walker's budget director, Michael Heifetz, said he was to blame for the
proposed changes and the language would be removed in a routine budget follow-up that is
always sent by administration officials to the Legislature to clean up the bill's language. Heifetz
declined an interview request through an agency spokesman.
"In this specific case, there was clearly a misunderstanding and I take responsibility for this
drafting error," Heifetz's statement said.
UW officials rebuffed
Yingling, the special assistant to the UW System president, sent his Jan. 29 email objecting to the
changes to Nathan Schwanz, an analyst in the state budget office within the Department of
Administration. Yingling said he gave Schwanz time to read it and to consult with others in his
office before the two talked by phone.
Over two phone conversations, Yingling said Schwanz made it clear that he understood the email
but would be sticking with the proposed changes to the Wisconsin Idea in state law.
"The response was, 'No, we're not going to make any changes (to Walker's budget proposal). If
you want to re-create this in (Board of Regents) policy, you're free to do that,' " Yingling said
Thursday.
Walker's legal counsel, Brian Hagedorn, said Thursday that Yingling's email had never been
shared with anyone in the governor's office.
UW System spokesman Alex Hummel said in a terse statement that university officials are "glad
the changes are not being sought."
"Our primary focus is on the impact of the ($300 million) budget cut and the public authority
proposals the governor has made for the UW System and its institutions," Hummel said.
Detailed instructions
For every piece of legislation especially the massive state budget drafting is a painstaking
process in which a number of parties share successive versions of the specific language. The

drafting file is essentially a history of those rewrites all of them full of minute changes and
revisions made to the budget proposal as it wound its way toward the final version.
In the file, a Dec. 30 email from Schwanz to the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau's Mark
Kunkel, a nonpartisan bill drafter, directed a number of changes to the UW mission statement in
state statutes.
The changes were part of a larger section in the budget that would transform the university from a
state agency into a quasi-public authority with greater flexibility from the state and its rules.
An attachment to that Dec. 30 email proposed the changes such as deleting the phrase, "Basic to
every purpose of the system is the search for truth." That electronic file, released through an open
records request, showed that it was created by Schwanz about four hours before he emailed it to
Kunkel.
On Jan. 12, Schwanz sent another email to Kunkel with more detailed instructions.
"To extend knowledge and its application beyond the boundaries of its campuses should be
removed," Schwanz wrote.
Previously, Schwanz worked as a congressional staffer and campaign worker for U.S. Rep. Sean
Duffy, a Republican from Weston. Schwanz didn't return a phone message Thursday seeking
comment.
'There's no integrity'
The high-profile controversy comes as the governor rides a wave of positive press nationally for
his all-but-certain presidential run.
Democrats called on Walker to take responsibility for what was in his budget.
"He blamed somebody else. To me, there's no integrity there. I'll leave it to somebody else to
decide if there's a lie in there," Sen. Janet Bewley (D-Ashland) said of Walker.
Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) said he couldn't believe that the governor would not have
known of changes to the Wisconsin Idea, which Erpenbach described as being "written in stone"
on the university's foundation.
"This isn't something that would be an oversight. This is the governor directly aiming his arrow at
the heart of the UW and what it's all about," Erpenbach said.
In Watertown Thursday, the governor said he thought the public debate should be focused on
whether to give the university more flexibility and cut its state aid, not the flap over the proposed
changes to the Wisconsin Idea.
Asked if there were other things in his budget he didn't know about, Walker said: "No, we knew
about things overall. But I'm saying this was not a question of something we put in. This was the
way that unfortunately somebody interpreted the direction of keeping it simple. We wanted to
keep it simple and not making changes other than add the item we talked about in terms of
workforce development."

Despite deliberate actions, Scott Walker calls change to university

mission a "drafting error"
By Tom Kertscher, on February 6th, 2015

This excerpt from Gov. Scott Walker's 2015-'17 budget reframes the mission of the University of
System, essentially removing the Wisconsin Idea, a guiding principle of the system that
emphasizes service to state government and citizens.
Emails reviewed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel show Walker's budget office requested
sweeping changes to the Wisconsin Idea that later became part of his budget.
Echoing other national media, U.S. News & World Report declared Feb. 3, 2015 that Gov. Scott
Walker was having a better two-week run than any 2016 presidential hopeful.

The very next day, Walker got caughtin a political firestorm back home.
News broke that language included in Walkers state budget proposal would fundamentally
change something known as the "Wisconsin Idea" -- a mission statement for the University of
Wisconsin System that had been in place, and held in some esteem, for more than a century.
The Wisconsin Idea doesn't have a precise meaning, but an early definition was: "The borders of
the university are the borders of the state." In short, the Wisconsin Idea is a notion of public
service, including the systems contributions to state government as well as "research directed at
solving problems that are important" to citizens.
Today, the university system includes the flagship University of Wisconsin-Madison and 25 other
campuses that comprise the $6 billion-per-year UW System.
The backlash to Walker's proposal, even from some conservatives, was swift. So was Walkers
response.
Using his official Twitter account, the governor stated on Feb. 4, 2015:
"The Wisconsin Idea will continue to thrive. The final version of budget will fix drafting error -Mission statement will include WI Idea."
"Drafting error"?
Really?
Walkers budget changes
The day before his tweet, Walker had given his 2015-17 state budgetaddress. It made no mention
of the Wisconsin Idea.
The next day, the left-leaning Center for Media and Democracy, a Madison-based
group, reported that the 1,800-page budget bill itself included language that, in effect, struck the
Wisconsin Idea from the mission of the University of Wisconsin System. That mission is
contained in a state statute.
As shown in a photo accompanying this story, Walkers budget deletes a number of phrases
contained in the statute. Among the statements that are removed: "Extend knowledge and its
application beyond the boundaries of its campuses"; and "Basic to every purpose of the system is
the search for truth."
With some added language, the edits to the language emphasized the mission should be to "meet
the states workforce needs."
How changes occurred
Walkers "drafting-error" explanation suggests the rewriting of the UW System's mission was
some kind of mistake -- changes made inadvertently.
Walkers spokeswoman told us the governor had learned shortly before sending his tweet that
"there was a miscommunication during the back and forth of the budget process."
But the evidence indicates the changes to the Wisconsin Idea language were intentional.

As revealed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, based on emails and other information gathered
by the newspaper:
As the budget was being prepared, Walkers administration insisted to UW System officials that
the changes to the Wisconsin Idea language be made.
In December 2014, a budget analyst in Walker's Department of Administration directed the
nonpartisan budget-writing office to remove the phrase "Basic to every purpose of the system is
the search for truth" from the state statute covering the UW System's mission.
In January 2015, the same analyst told the budget-writing office to remove another phrase: "To
extend knowledge and its application beyond the boundaries of its campuses."
Five days before Walker introduced his budget, a UW System official sent an email to Walker's
budget staff raising concerns about the changes, saying: "We strongly urge that stricken language
is unique to depicting the character, mission and vision of the UW System."
That UW official, John Yingling, later told the Journal Sentinel that Walkers budget staff
responded by saying the changes would remain in the budget.
Backtracking from earlier statements, Walker eventually admitted that UW System officials had
thrown up red flags and been rebuffed -- although he also said there "was a confusion out there"
and "it was a mistake that someone made."
Walkers office also issued a statement claiming that when his office told the budget staff to
"keep it simple, they took that to mean that we only wanted workforce readiness language in the
mission when we really wanted the language added to the existing mission statement.....It was a
simple miscommunication during the natural back and forth of this process."
Our rating
Walker said fundamental changes to the language describing the Wisconsin Idea in the University
of Wisconsin System's mission statement were the result of a "drafting error" in his state budget
proposal.
But Walkers administration had insisted to UW System officials on making the changes, giving
detailed instructions on passages to be removed from state law. And eventually Walker himself
acknowledged that the UW System had objected to the changes before his budget was put into
final form.
His original claim was not only inaccurate, but ridiculous. Pants on Fire.

Can Scott Walker Handle the Truth?

MSNBC, "All in with Chris Hayes," on February 5, 2015.
Guest: Mary Bottari, Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy
The likely 2016 candidate is under fire in his home state for proposing to delete "the search for
truth" from the University of Wisconsin System's mission statement.

The Latest On The UW System's Wisconsin Idea Controversy

Wisconsin Public Radio, "The Joy Cardin Show," on February 5, 2015
Guest: Mary Bottari, Deputy Director of the Center for Media and Democracy.
Gov. Scott Walker is blaming the drastic changes to the UW Systems mission on a simple
miscommunication with his budget staff, and that the Wisconsin Idea will remain intact. Joy
Cardins guest, who broke the original story, discusses ongoing developments, including
revelations that the Walker administration sought removal of the Wisconsin Idea.

For Walker, success on the national front, a stumble at home

By Daniel Bice, on February 6, 2015
It's been this kind of week for Gov. Scott Walker: He has emerged as a media darling on the
national front even as he took a beating politically at home.
"He is clearly distracted by his presidential ambitions," said Senate Minority Leader Jennifer
Shilling, a La Crosse Democrat.
Walker could not have done any better with his national press.
He's leading in polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, and the Washington Post labeled the
Wisconsin Republican the first "it" candidate of the 2016 presidential horse race.
The number-crunchers at Nate Silver'sFiveThirtyEight are giving Walker better odds than anyone
but former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush of winning the GOP nomination.
"No 2016 presidential hopeful has had a better two-week run than Wisconsin Gov. Scott
Walker," declared U.S. News & World Report.
But you wouldn't know it in Wisconsin.
Walker spent much of the past week trying to douse the firestormcreated by his proposal to delete
the venerated Wisconsin Idea and the "search for truth" from the University of Wisconsin mission
statement.
He initially defended the change before blaming it on a "drafting error" and then later citing
"miscommunication" by his staff. He also accused UW officials of overlooking the change, a
claim he had to retract.
Earlier in the week, Walker gave a budget address that clocked in several minutes shorter than his
telephone town hall meeting with Iowa voters just a day earlier.
Is it possible, Wisconsin, that the governor is just not that into you anymore?
"Tommy Thompson would never have made this mistake," said Mary Bottari, a former legislative
staffer who is now with the liberal Center for Media and Democracy, which broke the news about
the change in the UW mission statement. "Not only is Walker not sufficiently schooled in
Wisconsin values and traditions, he has been listening to too many of his out-of-state big money
friends."
No Republican lawmaker has said the same.
"That's not legitimate criticism," countered former Republican state Sen. Mike Ellis.

Some have even said Walker has been locked in since offering up his proposed 2015-'17 budget
plan.
Walker has maintained that he won't launch his bid for the GOP presidential nomination until
after the state budget is signed into law. Even so, he has already been hiring staff and making
trips around the county to promote his all-but-certain candidacy.
One GOP legislator warned that Walker might find it difficult to run for national office while
keeping things running smoothly in Wisconsin.
"Will he be distracted as this continues down the road?" said the Republican lawmaker, who
asked not to be identified, well, for obvious reasons. "I can't say he won't be. I don't see how he
wouldn't be."
What's been most surprising in the past week is how Walker allowed the kerfuffle over the
Wisconsin Idea to dominate several news cycles.
News of the proposed changes prompted one new explanation after another before Walker's
office issued a 500-word summary of what happened.
By week's end, it was clear that the normally sure-footed Walker had stumbled by citing a
nonexistent drafting mistake and chiding UW officials for overlooking the details of his proposal.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Rochester Republican, said he believes the error occurred at the
staff level.
Vos said it would be unrealistic to expect Walker to review the actual statutory language of his
budget plan. The UW mission statement, he said, likely wouldn't even rise to the level of a bullet
point in a budget summary.
The Wisconsin Idea is a notion of public service, including the system's contributions to state
government as well as "research directed at solving problems that are important" to citizens.
As for Walker, Vos said, "He's been totally engaged."
Shilling, the Democratic leader, said the governor has no one to blame but himself for the selfinflicted wounds. She added that she doesn't believe Walker fully understood how important the
Wisconsin Idea is to many state residents.
"This is not some trite tag line," she said. "This goes back generations."
More important, Shilling said, this past week raises concerns about Walker's ability to juggle his
White House pursuits with his Statehouse obligations.
In the week before his Tuesday budget address, he attended at least five private fundraising
events across the country, addressed a Washington, D.C., conservative forum and talked about
foreign policy on ABC's This Week, according to The Associated Press.
Walker brushed aside such criticism, telling reporters: "I've had to run three times in four years,
so I'm used to running and still doing a good job governing the state of Wisconsin."
He's also learned a thing or two while pursuing the state's highest office.
Every president knows it's a good idea to go abroad when hit with a string of criticism at home.

On Trip to UK, Scott Walker Gets Away From University Flap

By the Associated Press, on February 10, 2015
MADISON, Wis. Gov. Scott Walker may have picked the perfect time to get out of Wisconsin
for a few days.
The prospective Republican candidate for president is traveling in the United Kingdom this week
on what's officially billed as a trade mission. It's a trip that also turns the Wisconsin governor's
focus toward foreign policy and away from a kerfuffle at home with the University of Wisconsin.
Few things in the state are as revered as the "UW," a fact Walker collided with last week when he
proposed cutting $300 million from the university system's budget and removing the century-old
philosophical underpinning of the school's mission statement.
The reaction, including from his normally loyal Republican allies, took some shine off the largely
positive reviews Walker received nationally after his speech last month at a conservative political
conference in Iowa.
"It's one of the most spiteful, mean-spirited and counter-productive things I could imagine, going
after the university in this situation," said former state Sen. Dale Schultz, a Republican and a UW
graduate who retired this year after 32 years in the Legislature.
The reaction from others was more muted. "I worry that the magnitude of the cut might be too
much to absorb this quickly," said Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. Yet the criticism
and concern highlighted the balance Walker must strike as a likely candidate for president still on
the job as governor.
Unlike former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, out of office for eight years, or the several U.S. senators
considering a bid, Walker is a chief executive who can't avoid responsibilities with the potential
for political risk, such as writing a budget or negotiating with state lawmakers whose agendas
doesn't always match his own.
Walker has already said he's willing to scale back the cut. The backlash over changes to the
mission statement a beloved ideal known as the "Wisconsin Idea" was so strong and swift
that he backtracked within hours, calling the proposal a mistake he hadn't known about.
"It is undeniably a challenge when you're a governor of a state and you're running for office," said
Nick Ayers, a national Republican strategist who managed Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's
presidential campaign in 2011. "But if your run for president matches the agenda, vision and
principles of what you've done at home, then it's a manageable process."

Indeed, Walker has already begun folding his UW plans into his broader narrative to
conservatives in Iowa and across the country that he's offering "bold ideas" at the state level that
show true leadership unlike what he calls the stagnation in Washington.
He has compared UW cuts to his moves in 2011 to help solve a budget shortfall. Walker proposed
making teachers and other public workers pay more for their pension and retirement benefits,
while also effectively ending their collective bargaining rights. The initiative sparked an effort to
remove him from office, which ended in 2012 with Walker's victory in a recall election.
"We weren't afraid to go big and go bold," Walker told conservatives at the Iowa event in January
that drew other potential presidential candidates. "Maybe that's why I won the race for governor
three times in the last four years. ... If you get the job done, the voters will actually stand up with
you."
Andrew Hartman, a history professor at Illinois State University who has written a book on the
cultural politics in America, points out that conservative attacks on higher education have a long
history in the GOP going all the way back to Ronald Reagan's run for California governor in the
1960s.
"That can only help him in the Republican primaries," Hartman said of Walker's targeting UW.
"It certainly can't hurt him."
Walker also wouldn't be the first Republican governor to stumble when it comes to a state's
popular university. In 2014, then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry tried to force the University of Texas
into a series of reforms to de-emphasize research, cut tuition and increase enrollment. In that
fight, a powerful coalition of Texas's top political and university donors, along with business
leaders, rallied against Perry's plans.
In his state budget for next year, Walker proposed giving the 26-campus system more autonomy
from state laws and oversight. He breezily suggested the school could make up $300 million in
cuts or 13 percent of the university's state aid and 2.5 percent of its total budget if
professors taught one more class each semester.
Professors shot back that Walker has no understanding of the hours spent on research and other
work outside of teaching classes, highlighting a potential vulnerability in Walker's presidential
resume his lack of a college degree.
The issue was compounded a few days later, when it was discovered deep in Walker's nearly
2,000-page budget he had proposed changing the university's mission statement to focus on
fostering career development, eliminating the Wisconsin Idea a charge to seek a broader truth
and understanding of the human condition.
The Wisconsin Idea dates back to 1907 and the progressive politics of the time, but it's grown to
be the heart of the university's relationship with the state. It focuses on the principle that research
conducted at the university should be applied to help improve the lives of people in the entire
state beyond the classroom.
"The university isn't some far-off place," said Schultz, the retired Republican senator who called
Walker's proposed cuts reckless. "It's relative to people on a daily basis."

The Governor Who (Maybe) Tried to Kill Liberal-Arts Education:

Why Scott Walker's allegedly mistaken attempt to change the
University of Wisconsin's mission statement is an omen for big changes
to higher education in America
By Alia Wong, on February 11, 2015
Last Wednesday, Wisconsins Republican Gov. Scott Walker released a biennium budget plan
that had a strange twist nestled inside. This line item didnt have much, if anything, to do with
how he intended to spend the states money; it had no numbers, dollar signs, nor provisos. It did,
however, deal ever-so-vaguely with Wisconsins economyat least, what Walker envisioned it
would look like down the line and how higher education would make that happen.
Walker proposed to rewrite the University of Wisconsins mission statement. He apparently
wanted to strip out its frills (stuff like "extended training," "public service," improving "the
human condition," and "the search for truth") and inject it with a more practical goal: meeting
"the states workforce needs."
The "Wisconsin Idea" is the belief that the mission of the university is to improve people's lives
beyond the classroom walls.
The proposal took aim at a cherished institution. Many university mission statements are read
only by the committees that draft them. For a century, though, the University of Wisconsin has
defined its purpose around the "Wisconsin Idea," the belief that the mission of the university is to
improve people's lives beyond the classroom walls. The proposed changes deleted this public
purpose, substituting the narrower goal of workforce education.
Within hours, amid a storm of criticism and outrage, Walker backtracked on the edits. In a
statement on Thursday, Walker blamed the changes on a last-minute "drafting error." The
intention, he said, was simply to reform the universitys budget priorities and governance
structure, a directive Walkers staffers misinterpreted:
We encourage a vigorous debate over the idea of an authority to govern the University of
Wisconsin system or the status quo, as well as a debate about what is the real amount of
savings that can be generated by an authority, which we believe is worth $150 million a year.
However, there is no debate over the principles contained within the Wisconsin Idea
Unfortunately, when my office told the budget staff to keep it simple, they took that to mean
that we only wanted workforce readiness language in the mission when we really wanted the
language added to the existing mission statement. They also responded to UW staff that this
change was not open for discussion because they were told to keep it simple and only add in
workforce readiness language.

Clearly, changing the Wisconsin Idea serves no purpose. That is why I made it clear on
Wednesday that we would not change it in the budget. It is not a change of heart. It was a
simple miscommunication between the natural back and forth of this process.
Whether Walkers justification holds water isnt clear. Skeptics in the news media and the highereducation world appear unconvinced that the change was merely a typo rather than an about-face
in response to the immediate backlash. After all, internal memos leaked on Thursday to
the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin State Journal show that Walkers
administration explicitly instructed the budget plans drafters to delete clauses such as this one:
"Basic to every purpose of the system is the search for truth."
Whatever Walkers intent, the situation has caused a good deal of hullabaloo, making national
headlines and raising, or at least renewing, questions about the state of higher education in the
country and the role of public universities in promoting state economies and American societys
general well-being.
"Basically its clear that, regardless of how it got into the language, there was an intent to
reexamine or to look at redefining the core values of what our university is about," said Mark D.
Schwartz, a geography professor at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee who serves on the
schools Faculty Senate.
This workforce-centric approach "is designed for short-term learning and long-term disaster."
Carol Schneider is president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, an
organization that represents about 1,450 institutions and advocates for a "liberal education"one
that is broad and "public-spirited," matched to the spirit of a free, democratic society. Liberal
education, she said, builds the kinds of capacities that are useful in any kind of job: critical
thinking, problem-based reasoning, understanding the science of how society operates. This
notion of a "liberal education" is what made Americas university system "the envy of the world."
But in recent years, she said, policymakers have attempted to rebrand that system.
Liberal-arts and humanities programs at public universities are increasingly under siege as state
legislatures cut the institutions funding, forcing school administrators to make tough decisions
about what to eliminate. The obvious targets are the programs that yield a lower return on
investmentat least in a concrete, monetary senseand are more nebulous in their impact on the
economy. What sounds like it has more dollar signs and productivity attached to it: philosophy or
Americas favorite new acronym, STEM?
Schneider pointed to the National Governors Association, which in 2011 published a report titled
"Degrees for What Jobs? Raising Expectations for Universities and Colleges in a Global
Economy." The report encouraged governors across the country, including Walker, to prioritize
university programs geared around filling in-demand jobs. But it also served as a wake-up call to
people like Schneider. "In reality, it was designed for downgrading expectations," Schneider said.
"Its part of a national trend toward redefining higher education as trade education [The
Walker scenario] simply offers an unusually explicit glimpse at what it all actually means, but it
was not unique."
This workforce-centric approach "is designed for short-term learning and long-term disaster," she
said. "Its focused on the wrong measures of what actually matters."
The "Wisconsin Idea" embodies the very essence of a liberal education, which is why Walkers
apparent attempt at scrapping it incited the reaction it did nationally. This idea treats the

education and research produced within a university setting as a public good, a tool inherent to a
democracynot strictly a means to some end.
"I think it strikes to the heart of how important education is to the state, and how its supposed to
be a right that all Wisconsinites have and want to have access to and be a part of," said Jo Ellen
Fair, a journalism professor at the University of WisconsinMadison who also serves on the
campus Faculty Senate. "Whatever knowledge is produced in the university should be accessible
to Wisconsinites. We have a responsibility to ensure that whatever it is were doing at the
university should be something Wisconsinites can use and will enrich their lives."
"To see the university as a technical school is to miss the point of what we do," Fair continued.
"Our research is all about trying to prepare our students to live in the world."