Bridget Maniaci is trying to determine who ratted her out to the press. Last Friday, the Madison alderperson initiated an open records request to all Common Council members seeking emails from the alders' official and personal accounts sent over a two-day period to State Journal reporter Dean Mosiman.
The period in question came immediately before Mosiman's article on Maniaci's proposal to make alders eligible for city health insurance and pensions. The article generated a mostly negative response.
Maniaci says the leak to Mosiman came before she introduced the idea as a budget amendment, based on an email she sent to colleagues feeling them out about the idea. She says she has "too much respect" for Mosiman to ask him to identify his source, but nonetheless wants to learn who it is.
Why does she want to know?
"Why wouldn't I want to know who is sending something off to the press about policy that hasn't even been written yet?" she responds. "I want to have a conversation with the person who sent the email to Mosiman and I can't know what kind of conversation it will be until I find out who it is."
She adds, correctly, that the emails to Mosiman are "are public record" -- as are, of course, her emails to colleagues.
Common Council secretary Lisa Veldran, who forwarded the email request, says she is still gathering responses from council members, which she hopes to be able to pass on to Maniaci later this week.
