The Republican Party of Wisconsin requested to review e-mails sent by a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who publicly criticized the Republican Gov. of Wisconsin. The professor, William Cronon, claims the request is an attack on his academic freedom. The state’s open-records law supports this request, which came two days after Cronon published a blog post that scrutinized the role that conservative advocacy groups play in forming the legislation proposed by Gov. Walker that has caused so much in-state and nationwide political uproar.

Cronon, in an interview, said the records request is looking to find evidence that he violated a law barring public employees from using state resources for political purposes. “I am absolutely confident that there is nothing in these e-mails that is inappropriate,” he said. Cronon added that he is, however, urging that the request be withdrawn, saying, “(if not, it) will have a chilling effect on the university” by giving the whole faculty a reason to fear that their e-mails will no longer be as safe as they thought. The fear, more specifically, is that the Wisconcin GOP is merely looking for evidence to discredit Cronon’s opinions after his blog post garnered much support against Republicans.

In a story from Salon.com, news writer Andrew Leonard said, “By attacking William Cronon, the Republican Party of Wisconcin has insured his every…utterance will command a mass audience—not just his (colleagues), who esteem him so highly—but of everyone who cares about the future of this country.” Paul Krugman also devoted an op-ed piece, "American Thought Police" to the GOP's investigation of Cronon's activities. Krugman compared this effort to intimidate and discredit Cronan to "Climategate," the effort to trivialize the work of scientists who study global warming. 

For William Conon's blow, go to: http://scholarcitizen.williamcronon.net/