Gov. Tim Walz is reneging on promises to release his daily schedule to the public.
"Calendars are classified as private data under Minnesota Statutes," Deputy General Counsel Emily Parks wrote in an e-mail to the Star Tribune on Friday, responding to an April public records request for Walz's calendar.
Asked at a June 4 meeting of the Society of Professional Journalists if he would make his calendar public, Walz said he would: "It's my hope that we are able to do that and give more than has ever been given by the governor's office."
During the transition following his election in 2018, Walz made a similar pledge.
In denying the Star Tribune's records request, Walz's counsel referenced a 1996 advisory opinion from the state Department of Administration, as well as state statute. The state's public records law narrowly defines what information about government employees — in this case, the governor — is public and therefore subject to disclosure. An employee's calendar is not within that narrow scope, which includes only basic information like name, job title, salary and the outcome of any disciplinary proceedings. Both former Govs. Tim Pawlenty and Mark Dayton used a similar rationale for denying requests to see their calendars.
The political dangers of releasing his calendar are evident: Minnesotans would find out which influential and ordinary interest groups and citizens he is meeting with — or avoiding.
Former Vice President Richard Cheney, for instance, fought legal challenges that sought to reveal his meetings as part of a White House energy task force in 2001. The White House ultimately prevailed at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2004. The Washington Post later revealed the prevalence of fossil fuel industry officials who met with the Cheney task force.
Like previous governors, Walz's office updates the public on his activities, usually a day in advance. Unlike Dayton, however, Walz's office has generally included only public events that are open to the press and has often gone days without reporting anything on the governor's activities or meetings because none of them were deemed public. For instance, Walz has been participating in a series of ceremonial bill signings this week that included members of the public and Legislature but were not on the calendar released to the public.
