The Wisconsin author of the blog "Scholar as Citizen," Bill Cronon - who is also a Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin - has really rattled Scott Walker's goons.

Cronon recently penned an op-ed in the NYT titled "Wisconsin's Radical Break," but a week before that he wrote a post in his new blog that looks at who is really behind the anti-union push, focusing on a group called ALEC (The American Legislative Exchange Council).

From Josh Marshall at TPM:

Less than two days after Cronon published the blog post, the Wisconsin Republican Party filed a state open records request to gain access to Cronon's personal emails to get a look at what communications or discussions or sources or anything else went into writing it. Now, 'personal' is up for some reasonable debate here. This is his university email. And he's a Professor at the University of Wisconsin, the state university. So he's a state employee. Still, he's not an elected official or someone doing public business in the sense you'd ordinarily understand the term. Nor are they looking at anything tied to the administration of the University, which is legitimately a public matter. In the ordinary sense we tend to understand the word it's his personal email. And the range of requested documents leave no doubt about what they're after.



Here's the request (reprinted from Cronon's blog)...

From: Stephan Thompson [mailto:SThompson@wisgop.org]

Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 2:37 PM

To: Dowling, John

Subject: Open Records Request Dear Mr. Dowling, Under Wisconsin open records law, we are requesting copies of the following items: Copies of all emails into and out of Prof. William Cronon's state email account from January 1, 2011 to present which reference any of the following terms: Republican, Scott Walker, recall, collective bargaining, AFSCME, WEAC, rally, union, Alberta Darling, Randy Hopper, Dan Kapanke, Rob Cowles, Scott Fitzgerald, Sheila Harsdorf, Luther Olsen, Glenn Grothman, Mary Lazich, Jeff Fitzgerald, Marty Beil, or Mary Bell. We are making this request under Chapter 19.32 of the Wisconsin state statutes, through the Open Records law. Specifically, we would like to cite the following section of Wis. Stat. 19.32 (2) that defines a public record as "anything recorded or preserved that has been created or is being kept by the agency. This includes tapes, films, charts, photographs, computer printouts, etc." Thank you for your prompt attention, and please make us aware of any costs in advance of preparation of this request. Sincerely, Stephan Thompson Republican Party of Wisconsin

Cronon's response, titled "Abusing Open Records to Attack Academic Freedom," is also posted on his blog.

As Professor Cronon has surmised, it appears that his blog post hit the nail on the head leading the Walker administration to attempt to silence their new critic.

*Note: Title edited to more accurately reflect subject. -Diane

