Members of Vos’ Impeachment Panel Have Released to American Oversight All Documents Subject to Public Records Law

During a hearing today in nonpartisan watchdog American Oversight’s lawsuit for records from Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ impeachment panel, former Chief Justice Patience Roggensack’s lawyer confirmed that she has produced all documents that could be subject to the state’s public records law and responsive to American Oversight’s requests.

Statement from American Oversight Executive Director Heather Sawyer:

“Speaker Vos’ impeachment panel may have remained cloaked in secrecy without American Oversight’s demand for much-needed transparency through the courts. Justice Roggensack’s lawyer has confirmed that she has turned over all documents that she held — none of which reveal what, if any, advice she provided Speaker Vos. Unlike Justices Prosser and Wilcox, who made their views against impeachment known, Justice Roggensack may prefer not to share her opinion on impeaching a supreme court justice with the people of Wisconsin.

“Now that our requests for records held by the panel members are resolved, we will work to ensure that all of the records held by Speaker Vos are provided to the public as required by Wisconsin law.”

Former Justices David Prosser and Jon Wilcox — the other two members of the panel convened by Vos earlier this fall to advise on the potential impeachment of state Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz — had previously produced all such records in their custody. Prosser released a letter after American Oversight filed its lawsuit in which he advised Vos against pursuing impeachment. 

After Vos revealed in court filings that Wilcox and Roggensack were the other members of the panel, Wilcox also publicly revealed to the Associated Press that he advised Vos against impeachment. The confirmation by Roggensack’s lawyer that there are no additional records to turn over indicates that any advice to Vos regarding his threats to impeach Protasiewicz was not in writing.

Having first filed a verified complaint with the Dane County district attorney about the panel meeting out of public view, and in an effort to get information to the public in real time, American Oversight filed a lawsuit against the panel in September alleging that any meetings were in violation of the state’s Open Meetings Law. The watchdog group later amended the complaint to include claims under the Wisconsin Public Records Law.

In dismissing the open meetings claims last month because of a statutory 20-day period for the district attorney to act, Judge Frank Remington of the Dane County Circuit Court found that, based on the allegations outlined in American Oversight’s complaint, the panel would have “plainly violated the open meetings law.”

The court scheduled an additional status conference on Jan. 25, 2024, to discuss Vos’ compliance with the open records portion of American Oversight’s lawsuit.