Governor's Staff Member that Recorded Call Could Be Charged With Felony
Wednesday, June 17th, 2020 -- 8:47 AM
(AP) -If the person in Gov. Tony Evers’ staff who recorded a telephone meeting between the governor and Republican legislative leaders did so without approval, they could be guilty of a felony, the chief attorney for the Wisconsin Legislature’s Reference Bureau said in a memo Monday.Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, both Republicans, were on the May 14 call with Evers, his chief of staff, Maggie Gau, and his legal counsel, Ryan Nilsestuen. Another Evers staff member who was listening to the call recorded it without Evers or the Republicans knowing. Audio of the call was released last week to news outlets under the state’s open records law. Vos and Fitzgerald called recording the meeting without their knowledge unprecedented, unprofessional and unethical. They compared Evers to former President Richard Nixon, who famously made secret recordings in the White House. Vos, Fitzgerald and Evers all said last week they did not know the call was being recorded. Evers said a member of his staff wanted help in taking notes and recorded the call.
Nilsestuen said last week that one of the parties talking on the call consented to the recording but would not say who gave the approval. Evers has not released the name of the staff member involved or said what discipline the staffer might face. Wisconsin law allows for telephone calls to be recorded as long as one of the parties involved knows about it. If anyone who was announced as participants on the call, including Gau or Nilsestuen, authorized the staff member to record it, the recording would be legal, said Rick Champagne, chief of the Legislative Reference Bureau, which drafts bills for lawmakers and provides legal advice.
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