This post originally appeared at https://wisconsindailystar.com/news/green-bay-mayor-settles-city-hall-spying-case/tcsquare/2024/07/27/

by Benjamin Yount

Green Bay’s mayor has agreed to never spy on people at city hall again.

Mayor Eric Genrich made the promise as part of the settlement in the lawsuit over hidden microphones at city hall.

Genrich (pictured above) had the microphones installed outside of the city council chambers in 2021. The mics fed back to the city’s police department. The mayor at the time defended the microphones as a safety precaution, but the ACLU, the Wisconsin Senate and Green Bay-area state Sen. Andre Jacque sued because they never knew the microphones were there.

“This is a landmark win for protecting our civil liberties, and exactly what we demanded from the very beginning: a guarantee from Mayor Genrich that he will no longer spy on his citizens,” Jacque said in a statement. “We have two court orders – one from a liberal state judge ordering the listening devices removed, and another from a federal court – that make clear that what the city did here violated state law and the Constitution. Those opinions will further stop would-be future violators – including the mayor – from pulling this nonsense again.”

Genrich has never said what he did was wrong, and the settlement doesn’t require him to admit to any wrongdoing.

“Had the Mayor simply admitted he made a mistake, immediately removed the listening devices, and stopped trying to egregiously invade citizens’ privacy when I first asked him in February 2023, 18 months of costly litigation would not have been necessary. Instead, his unwillingness to agree to these terms earlier and his subsequent legal maneuverings have now cost the City and its taxpayers over a half million dollars in legal fees and settlements,” Jacque added.

Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu also said it is sad Genrich is not admitting what he did is wrong.

“Mayor Genrich broke state and federal laws and violated the Constitutional rights of numerous citizens. His actions were so egregious that a federal court took the rare step of stripping Mayor Genrich of qualified immunity,” LeMahieu added. “Despite two different courts rulings in the Senate’s favor, and the liberal American Civil Liberties Union condemning his spying, the mayor still refuses to publicly admit wrongdoing. Regardless, this settlement guarantees that Mayor Genrich will not continue his snooping on citizens in City Hall carrying out their civic duties like paying taxes and voting.”

There remains an open criminal investigation into the microphones, the settlement does nothing to that case.

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Benjamin Yount is a contributor to The Center Square.
Background Photo “Green Bay City Hall” by Royalbroil. CC BY-SA 2.5.

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