Thread by @weareoversight

It’s #SunshineWeek and the annual Foilies — which “name and shame” agencies and officials that have been obstacles to government transparency — are out! This year’s highlight two sets of records requests we made.
eff.org/deeplinks/2023…

The “Transparently Proud of Destroying Public Records Award” went to attorney Michael Gableman based on our lawsuit for records related to the Wisconsin Assembly’s partisan review of the 2020 election.

Despite initial claims that the inquiry was intended to bolster public confidence in elections, it rapidly became clear that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and lead investigator Gableman’s review would be anything but transparent.

Our litigation revealed that Gableman and members of his office had frequently destroyed or disposed of records that were deemed not “helpful” to the review, including notes he took during the trips to the Arizona election “audit” site and Mike Lindell’s “cyber symposium."

Testifying in June 2022 in a hearing for one of our lawsuits, Gableman admitted to having destroyed records from early months of his work. “Did I delete documents? Yes, I did,” he said.
americanoversight.org/american-overs…

The “Ancient Art of Dodging Accountability Award” went to Cyber Ninjas, based on the lawsuit filed by American Oversight and the Arizona Republic for records related to state Senate’s partisan and discredited “audit” of the 2020 election results.

In May 2021, we sued after the Arizona Senate failed to release several requested records. In January 2022, the court ordered Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan to sit for a deposition, during which he refused to release his company’s documents.

After multiple court rulings, we obtained public records previously held by Cyber Ninjas, which provided further evidence of the firm’s connections to election deniers and conspiracy theorists.
americanoversight.org/american-overs…