Wisconsin Gov. Wants to Replace Their Elections Watchdog Agency

Gov. Scott Walker and other Republicans are attacking the state's Government Accountability Board (GAB), arguing that it should be replaced by something more accountable. The GAB is the nonpartisan state elections and ethics watchdog agency Republicans are mad at because it did its job and dared investigate Walker's election campaign.

What Republicans really mean by "more accountable" is more subservient to their partisan interests. They would love to pull all its teeth and keep it on a very short leash.

The people of Wisconsin should tell their legislators that's unacceptable, just as citizens did a couple of weeks ago when 12 GOP legislators tried to shut down public access to certain records.

The GAB isn't perfect, as an audit last year showed. But the answer is to fix the agency and give it the resources it needs to do its job, not shut it down and replace it with a group of partisans who would report to their masters in the Legislature, as some have suggested.

But Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) had the clearer vision on motive here: "Clearly they do not want election watchdogs. They want to have election lap dogs," Barca said.

The GAB was created in 2007 with overwhelming bipartisan support after the old state Elections and Ethics boards were dissolved. It is run by retired judges and oversees state elections and ethics laws.

Both parties have used the GAB for a punching bag in the past. But in recent years it's the Republicans who are whining about the agency, much like players whine when an umpire or referee makes a call they don't like. Republicans weren't happy with the way the agency conducted recall elections in 2011 and 2012, the design of ballots last year and the GAB's role in the John Doe investigation of Walker's campaign and of the conservative groups that helped the governor.

Yes, fix any problems at the GAB and give it the resources it needs. It must remain an independent agency free of partisan politics.











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