GOP Senate Leader Suggests Changes For GAB

The Republican leader of the state Senate wants to change the makeup of Wisconsin’s elections and ethics board, possibly handing partisan appointees more control.

Incoming Senate Republican Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald told the Associated Press that the current makeup of the Government Accountability Board too often favors Democrats and needs to be reconstituted. The Board is made up of six reserve judges. It was created in 2007 in a bipartisan deal aimed in part at insulating decisions over elections from partisanship. Prior to that, the former Election Board was made up of political appointees from both parties, from legislative leaders and from the governor. Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Director Mike McCabe says there’s no good reason to return to a system like that, “It was a partisan body and its members looked out for their masters. For the people who put them in those positions.”

Sen. Fitzgerald’s office said he was unavailable for a recorded interview. The Senator’s comments are similar to those made last session by his brother, outgoing Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald.

Republicans will control both houses of the legislature and the governor’s office next session.