Capitol Report
By State Representative, Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
This week, as the Legislature geared up for its fall floor-period, the Republican-majority was already at work, but not in the constructive sense. Emboldened with a fresh mission and a governor focused on state affairs once again, the GOP unleashed its new round of initiatives aimed at enhancing its control.
Regrettably, the Wisconsin Assembly voted on three bills this week that will in effect restrict investigations into political corruption, dismantle the state’s non-partisan elections board, and greatly expand the influence of wealthy campaign special interest groups.
The bills, which were only introduced late last week, have already been rushed through the committee process with little public input or review.
The draconian measures to which I refer are:
• Assembly Bill 68 allows politicians to be unaccountable for their actions by exempting political crimes from investigation under Wisconsin’s John Doe anti-corruption law.
• Assembly Bill 387 re-writes Wisconsin’s campaign finance laws to give corporations even greater influence over our elections and decisions made in our state Capitol and our local governments. The bill would also allow individuals to spend limitless amounts of money campaigning without having to tell anyone who they are.
• Assembly Bill 388 will dismantle the Government Accountability Board the nonpartisan oversight agency for elections and ethics, replacing it with two politically-appointed commissions.
Make no mistake about it: These proposed changes are not intended to benefit the general public in the least; rather the sole intent is to benefit politicians. Moreover, these bills will give corporations even more influence over our elections and decisions made in our state Capitol and our local governments.
Moreover, these bills will give corporations even more influence over our elections and decisions made in our state Capitol and our local governments.
Unfortunately, this kind of Republican subterfuge is nothing new. As many Wisconsinites will remember, late in the evening during the last day of deliberations on the deeply unpopular 2015-17 Wisconsin State Budget, Republicans on the Joint Finance committee snuck a last-minute provision into the budget which would have all but eliminated Wisconsin’s open record laws. After intense public outcry and feedback from citizens across the state, Republicans were forced to remove the motion from the final budget proposal, keeping Wisconsin’s open records law in place.
With that being said, the Republicans latest effort to undo some of our political safeguards is nothing more than a full frontal assault. This is terrible public policy but, more importantly, it speaks directly to the GOP’s obsession for greater control.