Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers Allegedly Used Alternate Email Account in the Name of Hall of Fame Pitcher
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has been using an alternative state email account under the name of a late Hall of Fame baseball player as a security measure, his spokesperson said Monday.
Evers, a Democrat, used a taxpayer-funded email account with the name “warren.spahn@wisconsin.gov” to discuss public business with top-level Cabinet appointees and others, the conservative outlet Wisconsin Right Now first reported on Sunday. Warren Spahn is a Hall of Fame former Milwaukee Braves pitcher.
Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback on Monday said use of alias email addresses is common.
“As a matter of digital security, dignitaries in the state of Wisconsin have alias email addresses, including the governor, first lady, and lieutenant governor, as has been the case for at least the last decade that I’m aware of, including under former Gov. Walker,” Cudaback said.
Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, said he was troubled by the use of what he called “phantom email addresses” and said he had never heard of the practice before.
“I don’t know if they’re common or uncommon,” Lueders said. “I do know if they’re used for public business, they’re subject to the records law.”
Responsive emails requested under the state open records law are always released in accordance with state law, no matter which account they are sent from, Cudaback said.
Open records request responses from the Evers administration routinely contain language that says all identifiers of non-public email addresses are redacted.
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