An advocate says it’s not clear whether there are sufficient Republican votes to force changes at Wisconsin’s non-partisan elections agency. Jay Heck with Common Cause in Wisconsin said a lot has changed since 2007, when lawmakers of both political parties signed off on the legislation which created the Government Accountability Board to oversee state campaign and elections law.
“There was no Republican opposition, and now of course, Republicans are leading the oppostion to the non-partisan GAB and want to establish a partisan entity,” Heck said.
The GAB is now clearly in the sites of Republican leadership, which will likely propose partisan changes to the board. Still, Heck said it’s unclear whether changes can make it through the state Senate, despite GOP control.
“There’a a 19-to-14 Republican margin over the Democrats,” Heck noted. “If you assume all of the Democrats will be smart enough to stick with the GAB . . . then you’ll need to peel off three Republicans.” There are 12 Republicans in each chamber of the legislature who voted for the original legislation that created the GAB.