Governor Tony Evers and Lt. Gov Sara Rodriguez. MWC photo by Mike Leischner
MADISON, WI (WSAU) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is being accused of sending over 17,000 emails to and from a secret government email account, which bears the name of deceased Milwaukee Braves baseball great Warren Spahn.
The taxpayer-funded email is registered under the domain “warren.spahn@wisconsin.gov,” and Gov. Tony Evers has reportedly been using the account to speak with state workers about matters of public business, according to Wisconsin Right Now.
According to an open records request that was submitted by the outlet back in September, there are emails in which the Warren Spahn account holder signs his name “Tony” and “Tony Evers” and is referred to as “governor.”
One of the emails produced through the request states, “Malika: Great job at the Black Caucus meeting the other day. Thanks. Tony Evers,” and another from May 7th, 2020 stated, “But we received today at the ER a box of HIGH GEL RE-ENTERABLE ENCAPSULANT, ordered by Daniel Byerly, 7th floor DOA. It looks like some sort of mechanical solvent that is highly toxic. Since there is no one here besides FL, me, and CP, I am not sure what to do with it. Please pass on the information to Daniel. Thanks. Tony.”
The outlet’s open records request was initially denied by the governor’s office but was later approved after being narrowed down.
Wisconsin Right Now reports that an anonymous source who saw interactions between Evers and a state employee was able to confirm that Evers is using the account despite the location being blacked out.
The state Department of Administration provided the outlet with a comment on why it was blacking out the email account name, saying, “The Governor’s non-public official direct email address. Making this email address available would significantly hinder the governor’s ability to communicate and work efficiently. There is minimal harm to the public interest, given that there are numerous public means to communicate with the Office of the Governor.”
Using another person’s “identifying information,” which includes another person’s name, whether alive or deceased, is a felony in Wisconsin, according to state law. Popular tech companies such as Gmail and Yahoo used for private email communication do not have a specific policy against creating “burner” accounts but do not allow users to create and maintain an account using another person’s identity.
Lucas Vebber, deputy counsel with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, spoke with Wisconsin Right Now about the account, saying, “Any state business conducted on any e-mail account (or any other means of electronic communication), whether it is a ‘public’ or ‘non-public’ account, is subject to the state’s public records law. Of course, all of those communications must be retained and made available upon request.”
Evers has talked about being a fan of Spahn and even seeing him play in person, saying, “I’ve been watching baseball in Milwaukee since the County Stadium days when I had the chance of a lifetime to watch Warren Spahn’s 300th-career game their way back when.” Spahn won the 1957 Cy Award and ended his career in 1965 as a 17-time All-Star with 2,583 strikeouts, which was the most strikeouts in MLB history by a left-handed pitcher at the time.
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