Wisconsin: Government Accountability Board not corrupt enough. Republicans plan makeover.
I've posted previously about the GAB, especially Director Kevin Kennedy's efforts in lobbying FOR the use of Diebold electronic voting machines and outsourcing parts of our elections to Accenture (See Andersen Consulting, Enron).
I've posted about how the GAB allowed Kathy Nichols to create her own vote-counting system in Waukesha County.
But even those bad behaviors aren't enough for our Republicans in Madison. They'll "reform" the GAB all right, and further erode the agency's ability to assure clean and fair election.
http://www.uppitywis.org/blogarticle/don-t-let-government-accountability-reform-mean-return-corruptio
I promise you that two years from now, when we are sitting here, the GAB will not be in the current format, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told a crowd at a Madison luncheon as reported by the Wisconsin State Journal.
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In other activities of the GAB, the audit found over 90% of lobbying groups and over 85% of campaigns filed required reports on time. But GAB staff did not consistently track or enforce penalties for late reports and violations of lobbying laws. Staff did not have written policies when making exceptions to the assessment of penalties. The oversight of the GAB could not be completely evaluated by the LAB because an Attorney Generals opinion this summer limited release of documents to the auditors. The action of the Attorney General affected auditors ability to review complaints investigated by the GAB. Over 1,900 complaints were received but auditors could examine less than a third of these complaints.
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Administrative rules took a backseat to agency duties at a time of great demand on the GABs strained human resources. During this time period, the GAB repeatedly asked for additional staff and was turned down by the Governor. More than a quarter of its state funds were cut since 2011. At the same time the GAB faced unprecedented challenges: historic recall elections; the enactment of 31 separate pieces of new legislation and lawsuits affected the agency, including several over photo ID. To make compliance more difficult, a 2011 law changed the length and complexity of the rule-making process leaving many agencies not just the GAB - with delayed or eliminated permanent rules.
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But lawmakers cant starve the agency, load it with additional work, and then complain staff isnt doing the job fast enough.