Despite the Republicans’ ongoing criticism of the state ethics and elections board, the agency has avoided an audit, at least for now. “We were told (Friday) they had other priorities,” said Reid Magney, a spokesman for the Government Accountability Board, the nonpartisan state agency that oversees elections and campaign ethics laws. Earlier last week, Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay, and Rep. Samantha Kerkman, R-Powers Lake, the Republican co-chairs of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, had announced that a hearing would be held this Wednesday followed by a committee vote to decide if the state should audit the GAB. But on Monday committee members were told the meeting was off. Cowles and Kerkman did not return phone calls seeking an explanation.
Perhaps the cancellation (or postponement) has something to do with a Legislative Fiscal Bureau report released Friday that revealed the University of Wisconsin System had cash reserves of roughly $650 million, which set off a frenzy of UW bashing by the GOP and calls for an investigation of system finances.
However, no reason for the GAB-related meeting cancellation was given when his office was notified Monday morning, said committee member, Rep. Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee.
“The whole thing (idea of an audit) smells like the ongoing Republican witch hunt against the GAB because a few rulings didn’t go their way,” Richards said Monday.
Full Article: Audit of state elections board off, at least for now : Ct.