SCOTT WALKER OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR STATE OF WISCONSIN P.O. BOX 7863 MADISON, WI 53707 March 24, 2016 Todd Richmond Associated Press TRichmond@ap.org Via Electronic Mail Only Dear Mr. Richmond, I am writing to respond to your public records request for the following, which we received on Tuesday, March 8, 2016:  All emails sent or received by Gov. Scott Walker’s email account (govgeneral@wisconsin.gov) from Monday, February 1, through Sunday, February 7.  A copy of Gov. Walker’s daily schedule of activities from Monday, February 1, through Sunday, February 7. This includes details such as the names of people with whom he was scheduled to meet, descriptions of the functions he was to attend and the times those meetings and events were to occur. With regard to Part 1 of your request, at this time we are unable to respond, because your request is not specific enough to comply with the Public Records Law. The law requires that a request must include limitations as to subject matter and length of time. See Wis. Stat. § 19.35(1)(h). Your request appears to ask for all emails within the specified time period, without any reference to subject matter. If you can provide us with the subject matter of records that you are seeking, we would be happy to conduct a search and provide you with the requested records. In response to Part 2 of your request, we are providing you with the Governor’s official schedules for the entire month of February, totaling 18 pages. Only a few items are redacted, as explained below. The non-public direct conference-call telephone numbers used by the Governor’s Office are redacted pursuant to the public records balancing test. Many other publicly available methods exist to contact employees of the Governor’s Office. In addition, these conference-call telephone numbers allow the Governor and his staff to communicate from their respective locations. Thus, we determined that the public interest in avoiding potential disruption to the staff’s ability to carry out their important official responsibilities without unnecessary interruption if these direct conference-call telephone numbers became common knowledge outweighs any public interest in disclosure of these numbers. Wis. Stat. § 19.35(1)(a). Home telephone numbers of state public officials are also redacted, pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 19.36(11). WISCONSIN IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS WWW.WISGOV.STATE.WI.US ▪ (608) 266-1212 ▪ FAX: (608) 267-8983 Pursuant to the balancing test, the names and street addresses of the particular lodging used by the Governor during travel are also redacted. If such lodging information were subject to release in public records, it could be used to establish patterns and predict the Governor’s overnight location on future trips. For security reasons, we determined that any public interest in receiving this information is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring the Governor’s safety and security. The Governor has in the past had threats to his safety, and the public interest in the Governor’s safety would be undermined if revealing location information exposed him to harm or harassment. Therefore, we determined that the balancing test tips in favor of redaction of this information. Lastly, entries on the calendar consisting of purely personal content that evince no violation of law or policy are removed from the records. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has held that such information is not disclosable under the open records law. See Schill v. Wis. Rapids Sch. Dist., 2010 WI 86, ¶ 173 n.4 (Gableman, J., concurring) (explaining that the majority of the Court agrees that records that “are purely personal in nature and do not evince a violation of law or policy…should not be released”); see also Schill, 2010 WI 86, ¶¶ 149, 172 (Bradley, J., concurring). 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