A Dane County judge says the former chair of the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board is a public official subject to the state’s public records law. Midwest Environmental Advocates sued former chair Fred Prehn, the board, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources last fall.
MEA alleged Prehn violated the state’s open records law by withholding communications as part of a records request. The group asked a judge to force Prehn to turn over all communications including texts about his continued refusal to step down at the end of his term last May.
Dane County Judge Everett Mitchell denied a motion by Prehn’s attorney to dismiss the case. Attorney Mark Maciolek had argued the former chair doesn’t meet the law’s definitions regarding who is considered an authority that has custody of records.
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Mitchell also rejected Maciolek’s claims that the texts aren’t records in his decision on Tuesday.

Image courtesy of the DNR
“(T)he Defendant’s tenure on the NRB has a relationship to state natural resource policy decisions, the decision-making process, and the Governor’s ability to appoint new members to the NRB. Further, the records sought are not purely personal communications, as the Defendant argues, because they clearly have some connection to the affairs of the NRB,” Mitchell wrote.
Last summer, MEA obtained records that show Prehn communicated with staff of Republican lawmakers and lobbyists about his decision to remain on the board. MEA filed the lawsuit after obtaining a text sent by Prehn to fellow board member Bill Smith about Prehn’s term as part of a separate records request, which hadn’t been previously shared.
“Dr. Prehn’s failure to turn over all relevant communications implicates the Wisconsin Public Records Law,” MEA executive director Tony Wilkin Gibart said in a statement. “MEA will continue to pursue accountability and transparency because our rights to clean water and a healthy environment depend on open and transparent government.”
Prehn’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Even so, Maciolek previously told the court the former chair would turn the texts over if the judge ruled they’re subject to the open records law.
In arguments before the court, Maciolek argued Prehn’s decision has nothing to do with policy.
Prehn told WPR last spring there are a lot of issues that “could use his leadership” on the board, pointing to proposed regulations surrounding nitrate, water and wolf management.
The board has become the unlikely focus of a political power struggle. Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, appointed Sandy Naas and Sharon Adams in April last year. The two were named to the board to replace Prehn and board secretary Julie Anderson, who were appointed in 2015 by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
Anderson stepped down, but Prehn chose to remain on the board. Currently, the board’s Walker-era appointees hold a 4-3 majority.
Prehn has said a 1964 decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court allows him to remain in his seat until the Republican-controlled Senate confirms Evers’ appointee. So far, GOP lawmakers in the Senate have made no move to confirm Naas.
In August, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit seeking to remove Prehn from the board. A Dane County judge dismissed that lawsuit. Kaul appealed the ruling, and that case will now be heard by the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday.
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