Walker Signs Bill to Open Wisconsin to Corruption

“It’s clear that the people of Wisconsin can’t trust Republicans to stand up for clean government.”

By State Rep. Katrina Shankland - Dec 16th, 2015 12:59 pm

MADISON – Today, Governor Walker signed legislation into law that will dismantle the Government Accountability Board (GAB) and replace it with commissions comprised of partisan appointees. In response, Rep. Katrina Shankland (D-Stevens Point) released the following statement:

“It’s clear that the people of Wisconsin can’t trust Republicans to stand up for clean government. By eliminating the Government Accountability Board, Republicans are changing the rules of the game while the game is still in play. This law will make it easier for corruption and cronyism to go undetected and unprosecuted, all for partisan gain.

“The people of Wisconsin don’t want biased political appointees running our elections and enforcing our ethics laws; they want impartial experts who will administer fair elections and root out corruption.

“Republicans wasted valuable taxpayer resources on an extraordinary session to dismantle the GAB. The least Governor Walker could have done was sign the bill publicly. We don’t even know yet whether the governor has signed the campaign finance bill that would open the floodgates to dark money in our elections.

“This is exactly what’s wrong with Republicans in state government: instead of transparency and accountability, the public only gets a tweet from the bill author that his bill dismantling the Government Accountability Board is signed into law. Talk about government accountability.”