Monday, September 14, 2009

An Open Records Request for Ginny Maziarka

It is no secret that Ginny Maziarka is a big fan of open records requests (ORR). She engages in broad fishing expeditions related to whatever her vendetta of the moment might be.

Recently, she's famously filed an ORR for all the email communications of the library board, all the financial reimbursements processed by the library, and who knows what else. Today, she posted the salaries of library employees, for no other apparent reason than because she can.

Ginny, apparently, is a firm believer in the power of open records requests to uncover truths, ensure transparency, and make certain that those who represent citizens are held to the utmost scrutiny.

I'd like to hold Ginny to the same standard. She claims to represent the majority of West Bend citizens. Her organization supposedly works on behalf of us all. So, she should make her self just as open to scrutiny as she holds other representatives of the people. While no law requires her to be open, fairness and justice should compel her to do so.

So, I hereby file the following open records request to Ginny Maziarka and the West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries organization:

Please submit electronic copies of the following documents and communications, as related to the West Bend library controversy:
  1. All emails/written communication between Ginny Maziarka and Dan Kleinman (SafeLibraries.org), PFOX, Mark Belling, Owen Robinson, and the Wisconsin Family Council.
  2. All other emails / written communication sent/received related to the library controversy
  3. Financial statements of all related income, donations, and expenditures.
Ginny, please feel free to explain why you shouldn't be held to a similar standard that you are holding others. You claim to represent the majority of the community. Start acting like it.

4 comments:

  1. I'm famous!

    I'll have to admit that your mirror site of WISSUP is clever.

    I'll also have to admit that with those puny salaries, people ought to be given gold stars. $4,525.00? A year? What job do they do? Tyree? Only 71K? Hasn't he earned a raise yet?

    ReplyDelete
  2. All city staff should just start sending each other TONS of emails praising Ginny. What would Ginny do if her ORR turned THAT up?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ginny is gonna be PISSED when she sees the front page this morning...


    Library’s stance on book labels wins award

    State group cites firm stand in controversy

    By DAVE RANK
    Daily News Staff



    The staff of the West Bend Community Memorial Library, the city’s Library Board and local citizen advocates of the library will receive the 2009 Proquest Intellectual Freedom Award by the Wisconsin Library Association next month.
    The award is being presented, according to a statement released by the WLA’s Intellectual Freedom Round Table, for “their actions and their firm standing in the face of strong controversy” this year that grew out of challenges to books in the library’s Young Adult section and the library’s book labeling policies.
    The award will be presented at the WLA’s award banquet on Oct. 22 in Appleton.
    Specifically named to receive the award are the library staff, “in particular, Director Michael Tyree and Young Adult Librarian Kristin Pekoll,” the Library Board “and supportive community members, specifically, blog creator, Maria Hanrahan.”
    The award nomination stated, “Together and via their unique roles, the staff, the Board, and the community members have been able to defend people’s right to read materials of their choosing – without barriers that prohibit access to information. I am in awe of all that they’ve faced and in all that they’ve accomplished. They are role models for us all.”
    The award announcement was written by Elizabeth Buchannan, director, and Michael Zimmer, research associate, at the Center for Information Policy Research, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Information Studies.
    “I commend the West Bend Community Memorial Library Board of Trustees, administration, and staff for their support of the principle of intellectual freedom, and I share the nominator’s awe of their commitment to defend people’s right to read materials of their choosing without arbitrary barriers that prohibit access to information,” Zimmer commented.
    This summer members of the library staff, Library Board and a citizen supporter of the library, were asked to participate in a roundtable discussion on dealing with such citizen complaints at the ALA’s national convention in Chicago.
    Tonight, Tyree and Hanrahan will be guests at the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin Foundation’s Banned Books Week Kick-off and Fundraiser in Madison to honor the “professionalism of the library staff and the efforts of community activists ... in defending a diverse library collection that is free and accessible to all community patrons.”

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ginny likely knew this information a while ago through the communications of her supporters, followers, fellow xenophobes, and people who are afraid of her outing the in some way.

    She has a semi-power grip on the B*lls of city council. If they disobey, they castrated on her blog and boots and sabers.

    ReplyDelete