Gov. Scott Walker has signed a bill that eliminates Wisconsin’s nonpartisan state elections board.
The new law dismantles the Government Accountability Board, an agency run by retired nonpartisan judges to oversee elections and ethics laws. This independent elections and ethics panel has been held up as a national model because it’s run by six former judges rather than partisan political appointees.
The board will be replaced with two commissions. One commission will oversee elections and the other ethics. Both new commissions will be made up of partisan appointees. However, the ethics panel will have two retired judges.
Walker signed the bill in a private event and held no public ceremony for this dramatic change. The news of the signings came from a tweet from Rep. Dean Knudson (30th Assembly District), who sponsored the legislation. Walker’s office later put out statements confirming what he had done.