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Official denies threat to media

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin county’s ridiculed resolution that sought to dictate, under the threat of prosecution, how the media could report about a contentious water study was the brainchild of a neighboring county’s top official, newly released records show.

The ideas for the Lafayette County resolution, which was widely condemned as illegal, came from neighboring Iowa County’s board chairman, John Meyers, according to documents obtained by the Wisconsin State Journal under the state’s open records law.

When reached for comment by the newspaper, Meyers denied being the author of the Lafayette County resolution, which was ultimately gutted to remove the provisions targeting journalists. He said there is a difference between making suggestions and writing a resolution.

Before it was altered, the resolution was widely seen as illegal, unenforceable and unconstitutional.

As for the suggestion to prosecute reporters, “that was just me venting,” Meyers said.

The records show that Meyers sent Grant and Lafayette County officials suggestions for the resolution, including to stress to the media that “under no circumstances are they to be allowed to glean information and selectively report it in order to twist results.”

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