Is the Town of Waterford PD Complicit in Withholding Open Records to Cover for Franklin Mayor Nelson?

 You just can't make this stuff up.   No matter what the critics believe, it's all true!

The Town of Waterford Police Department may have been working with John Nelson, Mayor of Franklin, to intentionally and purposefully withhold responsive records under the Wisconsin Open Records Law.  John Nelson is a full-time Lieutenant for the Town of Waterford Police Department.

FCN previously reported on April 3, 2024, that Neilson violated the Wisconsin Open Records Law by not providing records to his personal (John.1968Nelson@gmail.com) email account and the (jnelson@waterfordpd.com) email account.  The Mayor denied having records as part of a request from Franklin Community News (FCN) when in fact he knowingly had the records. FCN had the records in its possession from a different request, the same records the Mayor denied having in his personal accounts in his official response.

As Franklin Community News reported on March 27, 2024, formal allegations have been made against Franklin Mayor John Nelson that he worked in a conspiracy with Steve Taylor, County Supervisor/ROC Foundation Executive Director, and Mike Zimmerman, CEO of ROC Ventures to silence the 1st Amendment Rights along with conspiracy to interfere with the employment of a Franklin Resident and Publisher of FCN News, Dr. Richard Busalacchi.

Busalacchi claims, with documented proof of each, that the City of Franklin Mayor John Nelson committed the following since April 4, 2023:

• ●  Participated in a conspiracy with County Supervisor Steve Taylor and ROC Owner/Operator Mike Zimmerman to silence his 1st Amendment Rights.

• ●  Participated in a conspiracy with Steve Taylor and Mike Zimmerman to interfere with his employment.

• ●  Provided false information to a Franklin Police Officer to weaponize the police department against him.

• ●  Participated in a conspiracy with Taylor, Zimmerman, Supervisor Kathleen Vincent/School Board member for the Village of Greendale, to harass him under the WI Statute 947.013

• ●  Worked in a conspiracy to stalk Busalacchi with Taylor, Zimerman, Vincent, under the WI Statute 940.32

• ●  Purposefuly withheld responsive open records to (John.1968Nelson@gmail.com) email account and the (jnelson@waterfordpd.com) email account. A violation of state Statues 19.37(3)(4)

• ●  The City of Franklin Police Department has refused to accept these and other related complaints to be investigated. The City of Franklin Police Department has not provided him equal protection of the laws under the 14th Amendment. 

• As a result of Nelson lying about not having any responsive records at his jnelson@waterfordpd.com, and FCN proving that he did indeed have responsive records that were not provided under the state open records law, FCN made an open records request to the Waterford Police Department.

• A records request was sent to the Town of Waterford Police Department that specifically requested any emails to or from jnelson@waterfordpd.com from February 1, 2023, until March 18, 2024, that contain any of the following, Busalacchi, Taylor, Zimmerman, ROC, ROC Ventures, ROC Foundation, Franklin, MATC, Milwaukee Area Technical College. The request was sent to Lieutenant William Jeschke to be completed. 

• On April 4, 2024, FCN received an email from Acting Chief Lieutenant Jeschke indicating “no record of any of these requested items was located”.

• FNC replied “I would like to politely ask that the search for the responsive records be conducted again. I have two records in my possession that meet the criteria below and were sent to the waterfordpd.com email. If there are two records I am sure there are more. If you could conduct the search again it would be appreciated. If it would be helpful for me to come to the station, I would be more than happy to show you the records I have. I am seeking the requested records as soon as possible.”

• FCN already had in its possession a record that met 6 of the search criteria presented for responsive records. So it's impossible that the search for responsive records was null. I called the Town of Waterford City Clerk and asked for her assistance to intervene which she agreed to do. The perception now is that since Nelson is a Lieutenant in the Waterford Police Department and so is the Acting Chief Jeschke, was Jeschke covering up for Nelson and purposefully denying access to open records under WI Statute 19.35 to cover for Nelson?

• Jeschke indicated the search was conducted by their IT director.  It seems almost impossible that an IT professional would conduct a search for records and one record containing 6 of the criteria is not pulled up as part of the query.  We know for sure there are at least two records and are willing to bet there are many more responsive records at jnelson@waterfordpd.com.

• Jeschke is a Lieutenant who is Acting Chief and Nelson is a Lieutenant.  Is it possible that Jeschke was covering for Nelson?

• As of now FCN is waiting on the Waterford PD with the assistance of the Waterford Town Clerk to produce the records FCN knows is on the Waterfordpd.com server.  None of the open records requests have anything to do with personal or sensitive information of the Waterford Police Department.

• As Busalacchi indicated during public comment at the April 3, 2024, Franklin Common Council meeting, when interrupted by the Mayor, December 28th was a paid holiday. MATC was closed for operations the week between Christmas and New Year.  Busalacchi publicly indicated in the Franklin Community News Blog, that the message was sent from his iPhone, and he forgot to select his personal account rather than the default MATC account. A search of MATC records will reveal that this was the only email that ever used the MATC domain for his blog. 

• Wisconsin State Statue 19.31 which governs WI Open Records Law states:

  In recognition of the fact that a representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate, it is declared to be the public policy of this state that all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those officers and employees who represent them. Further, providing persons with such information is declared to be an essential function of a representative government and an integral part of the routine duties of officers and employees whose responsibility it is to provide such information. To that end, ss. 19.32 to 19.37 shall be construed in every instance with a presumption of complete public access, consistent with the conduct of governmental business. The denial of public access generally is contrary to the public interest, and only in an exceptional case may access be denied.

  Wisconsin State Statue 19.32(2) Defines a "Record" as:

      “Record" means any material on which written, drawn, printed, spoken, visual, or electromagnetic information or electronically generated or stored data is recorded or preserved, regardless of physical form or characteristics, that has been created or is being kept by an authority. “Record" includes, but is not limited to, handwritten, typed, or printed pages, maps, charts, photographs, films, recordings, tapes, optical discs, and any other medium on which electronically generated or stored data is recorded or preserved. “Record" does not include drafts, notes, preliminary computations, and like materials prepared for the originator's personal use or prepared by the originator in the name of a person for whom the originator is working; materials that are purely the personal property of the custodian and have no relation to his or her office; materials to which access is limited by copyright, patent, or bequest; and published materials in the possession of an authority other than a public library that are available for sale, or that are available for inspection at a public library.

  The 2019 Wisconsin Public Records Law Compliance Guide (Page 3) indicates:

    Email sent or received on an authority’s computer system is a record.

  This includes personal email sent by officers or employees of the authority.

  
  

    Email conducting government business sent or received on the personal email account of an authority’s officer or employee also constitutes a record.

  Wisconsin State Statue(s) 19.37 (3)(4) Defines "Enforcement" and "Penalties" as:

  (3)  Punitive damages. If a court finds that an authority or legal custodian under s. 19.33 has arbitrarily and capriciously denied or delayed response to a request or charged excessive fees, the court may award punitive damages to the requester.
  (4)  Penalty. Any authority or legal custodian under s. 19.33 who arbitrarily and capriciously denies or delays response to a request or charges excessive fees may be required to forfeit not more than $1,000. Forfeitures under this section shall be enforced by action on behalf of the state by the attorney general or by the district attorney of any county where a violation occurs. In actions brought by the attorney general, the court shall award any forfeiture recovered together with reasonable costs to the state; and in actions brought by the district attorney, the court shall award any forfeiture recovered together with reasonable costs to the county.