Partisanship arrives in spades at GAB

Wisconsin is beginning the trek from first in the nation to worst in the nation when it comes to policing political corruption. The journey began when Wisconsin legislators voted to eliminate Wisconsin’s unique Government Accountability Board, the group which oversees elections and ethics laws in the state. The board, which had been comprised of six retired, non-partisan judges, will instead be comprised of political appointees. Emphasis on the word political. The first announced appointee is a woman named Katie McCallum, who just happens to be the secretary of the Republican party of Wisconsin. She is also the daughter-in-law of former Wisconsin Governor Scott McCallum. Clearly she has long and deep ties to the state Republican party. How can someone with that resume be more impartial than a group of retired judges? She can’t. McCallum will be much more interested in serving her party bosses than the public. Having partisan appointees will certainly lead to corruption, and gridlock. We had none of that from the retired judges serving on the board. Democrats will get their chance to appoint a nominee to this new board. That person will also likely be someone with deep political ties. How can this be better than what we had before?