Tony Evers

Office of the Governor  State of Wisconsin
November 27, 2019
Via Electronic Mail Only
Hello Ms. Beck:
This is in response to your November 13, 2019, request for the following: “All emails sent
and received by Gov. Tony Evers on Nov. 12, 2019.” We interpreted your request to be for
emails sent and received by Gov. Tony Evers using his unlisted government email account,
which he has direct review over, as opposed to emails sent to general office mailboxes
govinfo@wisconsin.gov, eversinfo@wisconsin.gov, or govgeneral@wisconsin.gov.
Your request lacks a subject matter. See Wis. Stat. § 19.35(1)(h). Despite this, we are
making an exception to this requirement, and are providing the responsive records.
We redacted information that relates to the Governor’s security detail. Wis. Stat.
§ 19.35(1)(a). If this information were to be released, it could be used in an action that
could threaten the Governor’s security. This poses a significant threat to the security of the
Governor and of the State. The public interest in preventing such security threats far
outweighs any benefit the public may receive from the release of this information.
Under the common law balancing test, we redacted unpublished phone numbers of state
employees. Making this information available would cause unnecessary and unwarranted
interruptions to employees both at work and at home, affecting their ability to work
efficiently. There is minimal harm to the public interest given that these same employees
are available through publicly available means. Employee personal phone numbers were
redacted per Wis. Stat. § 19.36(10)(a).
Please note that while every effort is made to ensure that the Governor's calendar is
accurate, it is always possible that any given event did not occur at the precise scheduled
time, or was even canceled, depending on unforeseen circumstances.
The Governor’s non-public official direct email address has been redacted as well pursuant
to the balancing test. Given the existence of other publicly available means through which to
contact the Governor, we have determined that the public interest in avoiding potential
disruption to the Governor’s ability to carry out his responsibilities without unnecessary
interruption if his direct email address became common knowledge outweighs any public
interest in disclosure.

Office of the Governor ♦ PO Box 7863, Madison, WI 53707
(608) 266–1212 ♦ www.evers.wi.gov

 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.
Sincerely,
Office of Legal Counsel
Office of Governor Evers