Where Foley lawyers go, things turn dark

Foundation changing bylaws to avoid outside scrutiny, reports the North Shore Herald, adding in a headline:

Open records request called burdensome for board volunteers

North Shore Herald staff writer Brendan O'Brien reports in the March 23, 2006 issue that after eight months the Shorewood Foundation has still not responded to an open records request.

O'Brien, reporting on the March 14 foundation meeting, writes that he observed the board unanimously vote to change the organization's bylaws. This, O'Brien writes, would exempt the foundation from having to respond to requests for public records.

O'Brien said the foundation's president, Foley & Lardner attorney Harvey "Wild Child" Kurtz complained that so long as the board is appointed by the village, "then the media, the journalists and any member of the public can say we are subject to public records and open meetings laws.” And that is just too much trouble and "inappropriate" for Kurtz and his gang, who, having taken control of the Benjamin Trust and hiring their lawyer neighbor at outrageous fees to allow them to abuse it, want to keep what they do in the dark.

O'Brien explains that the trust "was created after William Benjamin, who died in 2002, gave $1.1 million to the foundation for the Shorewood Senior Resource Center. Under the Wisconsin Public Records Law, documents such as emails generated by members, whether appointed or elected to governmental bodies, are open to the public for viewing."

Kurtz and fellow lawyer and board member Jeff Schmeckpeper are in discussions with Paul Kritzer, general counsel for Journal Communications, the parent company to Community Newspapers, regarding the open records request, O'Brien reports.

He further writes that on top of all this, Kurtz added: “We are trying to be as transparent as we possibly can.”