Republican state lawmakers are enforcing rules that ban members of the public from recording legislative hearings inside the state Capitol in the wake of Wisconsin’s version of C-SPAN going offline.

A 2005 state Senate rule bars individuals who are not credentialed members of the media or legislative staff from recording audio or video of proceedings. And a 2013 Assembly rule prohibits people in visitor galleries using recording devices of any kind. Assembly rules allow for members of the news media to record proceedings.

Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law generally allows the public to record, film or photograph open session meetings as long as doing so does not disrupt the meeting. But a Jan. 7 memo from state Senate Chief Clerk Cyrus Anderson says state statute gives supremacy to Senate or Assembly rules when it comes to open meetings law.

Nothing to hide, here …