Wisconsin DOA sued for withholding info on 'donor-funded government activism'

Non-profit public interest group Government Accountability Oversight has filed a lawsuit against Wisconsin’s Department of State for refusing to disclose records regarding alleged donor-financed climate activists working in state departments.

“Basic factual information like this is not privileged,” said Tom Kamenick, president of the Wisconsin Transparency Project which is representing GAO in court. “[The] Record custodian must redact privileged information and release the remainder – they cannot simply withhold the entire record. We are asking a judge to review these emails and determine whether they really are privileged.”

GAO has alleged the U.S. Climate Alliance – a coalition of 24 governors including Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers – the state’ Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy, and other donors with ties to the United Nations are working together in a national climate campaign to fund staff in state offices nationwide.

“Progressive operatives are buying their way into high-level positions in state governments by paying the salaries of highly-placed administrators in state agencies to do particular work they want done, like pushing aggressive global warming policies,” GAO claimed in a release.

The USCA has denied that it or the UN funds staff positions in state governments.

“As noted on our website, the Alliance leads two programs to help build state climate capacity: the Technical Assistance Fund, which provides demand-driven technical and policy support to help Alliance members overcome barriers and drive transformative climate action, and the Climate Leadership Grant Program, which bolsters state-level staff capacity to help Alliance members advance climate priorities, deploy federal funds, and take durable and equitable climate action,” Executive Director of the USCA Casey Katkims said in an email. “Positions supported by these grants are managed solely by the individual states, not the Alliance.”