The state's new electronic campaign finance reporting system isn't working very well. That's according to Mike McCabe with the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign , who's documented some of the system's shortcomings. McCabe brought his case to the state's Government Accountability Board on Monday.
"They certainly are beginning to acknowledge the extent of the problems, that's some progress," McCabe said. "For awhile it just seemed like they were just putting on a brave face and kind of insisting that the system was working okay. At least they're acknowledging that the system doesn't work so hot."
Among the questions McCabe has, how can GAB fine campaigns for being out of compliance with a system some haven't been able to make work? "We do have plenty of evidence – e-mail and that sort of thing – to show that the campaigns seem to have been trying to file the reports, but they've not been successful," said McCabe. "To me, when it's two months overdue, and they still haven't been able to master the system, that says pretty loudly that there's something wrong with the system."
Can the bugs and glitches be worked out? "Right now the system doesn't work . . . there are too many bugs and too many glitches for it to be considered a reliable, usable system," McCabe said "Whether it's fixable I think is still an open question."