The Wisconsin Department of Justice is, at times, taking nearly five years to respond to records requests — an unacceptable amount of time according to open records advocates and those stuck waiting for their requests to be fulfilled.
Some records have taken more than 600 days to release, while others have stretched to nearly 1,800 days in recent years.
Attorney General Josh Kaul, who is running for reelectionthis fall against Republican Eric Toney, pointed to the long waits for some requests as outliers. Some cases, due to ongoing court action, or a need for redactions, take longer than others. Generally, the agency said, most requests are resolved within the 10-day guideline.
Records are presumed to be open to the public unless there is a specific statutory exemption or the public interest balancing test applies. Agencies are required to respond to requests “as soon as practicable and without delay,” but the state guidelines do not set a specific amount of time a request must be fulfilled.
Alesha Guenther, a former employee of the state’s Republican Party, requested records related to protests in Madison in 2020, along with others. It took until this year to receive the responsive records, including one request that was handed over after the Journal Sentinel asked the agency about the length of time the department was taking.