Evers email alias: Wisconsin governor security step not new, officials say

MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has been doing the public's business on the public's dime with another person's name – but officials say he's not the first governor to use an email alias.

Hall of Fame Milwaukee Braves pitcher Warren Spahn has been dead since 2003, but his name has lived on as the governor’s taxpayer-funded email: warren.spahn@wisconsin.gov.

"I think it's relevant that the governor is hiding the way that he is engaging in communication with other government officials," said Tom Kamenick with The Wisconsin Transparency Project.

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The governor’s spokesperson explained the usage: "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."

Former Gov. Scott Walker aides confirmed to FOX6 News the Republican’s alias was his middle name followed by his first name: kevin.scott@wisconsin.gov. 

Former Evers spokesperson Melissa Baldauff said the practice went back to former Gov. Tommy Thompson, but Thompson's former chief of staff denies that. 

Gov. Tony Evers

"He never had a alias. He doesn’t think it’s right for public officials to operate that way," said Bill McCoshen, Thompson's former chief of staff. "If he did send any emails at the end of his tenure, it would have been under his own name."

McCoshen later served as a Thompson cabinet secretary, as the state's commerce secretary from 1994-1998. "I never received an email from Gov. Thompson, as a cabinet secretary. He just didn’t send them. Tommy Thompson was a phone guy, still is today."

Evers' alias email address is no longer an active email address; FOX6 News' message to the account bounced back. The governor's office said they always released the governor's emails when requested through the state's open record laws, but redacted the email address.

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In a FOX6 open records request this year, the governor's office mentioned the "non-public official direct email addresses" for the governor and lieutenant governor were redacted to protect their ability to work "efficiently," but it did not mention Evers was using someone else's name. The response stated: 

"All identifiers of the governor’s and lieutenant governor’s non-public official direct email addresses have also been redacted. Making this information available would significantly hinder the governor’s and lieutenant 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 and the office of the lieutenant governor, and only the address is redacted, not the remaining content."

Governmental transparency advocates questioned that rationale.

"They're saying that it would interfere with the efficiency of their office and their communications, if they had to release the actual email address itself," said Kamenick. "But the goal of transparency laws is not efficiency. That's not the purpose, the public interest is in accountability and knowing what your government is doing and how they're doing it."

Wisconsin Capitol, Madison

Kamenick brought up another issue with redacting the email address.

"If they're saying, 'We're blacking out the governor’s and lieutenant governor’s and first lady's private email addresses,' how do you know which one it is? If you see an email that goes to a particular other government official: was it sent by the governor or the first lady or the lieutenant governor or somebody else," said Kamenick. "You don't know, because you can't do that detective work. You can't double-check that everything is accurate. You can't compare it against other records that you might have from a different agency."

Kamenick, an open records attorney, represented FOX6 in 2019 when the station sued the governor for refusing to turn over his emails from a single day in June 2019. 

Before the lawsuit, FOX6 Investigator Amanda St. Hilaire questioned the governor about the records request:

Despite that, the governor's office continued to refuse to release the emails, so that is when the station sued. FOX6 News won the lawsuit and eventually received emails, including some with redacted email addresses. Nearly two years later, the governor's emails are back in the news.

Wisconsin state senators also have public-facing email addresses listed on their official websites. That usually goes to everyone in the office, but senators of both parties have another email not listed on the public website that goes straight to the senator. These accounts are not secret, and follow the same naming convention for each lawmaker. FOX6 is not aware of any of these addresses being redacted when records requests are fulfilled.

Wisconsin Right Now first reported Evers' email pseudonym.