Assembly Passes Bill Dissolving Nonpartisan Elections Board

The state Assembly passed a bill on Wednesday that would dismantle Wisconsin’s nonpartisan Government Accountability Board and replace it with partisan agencies.

Under the Republican bill, the six non-partisan judges who run the GAB today would be gone. In their place would be two separate ethics and elections commissions run by citizen members — a system that state Rep. Dean Knudson, R-Hudson, said is more fair.

“Those citizens are going to be appointed in a manner that there’s going to be bipartisan balance from the get-go and at all points in time,” he said.

The three-three partisan split on the new boards would mirror the Federal Election Commission, which is mired in gridlock.

State Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa, D-Milwaukee, said it’s the same kind of system that existed in Wisconsin when leaders of both parties ran political campaigns out of their state offices.

“We’re going to return Wisconsin to an era when politics were rife with corruption,” she said.

The plan passed by a 58-39 magin.

Republican Reps. Travis Tranel, Todd Novak and Warren Petryk joined Democrats in voting against the measure.