Wisconsin politicians develop agency to halt corruption in the election process.

On Friday, Governor Jim Doyle signed a bill passed almost unanimously legislature creating the Government Accountability Board.

The GAB, as politicians in Madison are calling it combines the State Ethics and State Elections Boards, increasing the power and resources of the Board to investigate corruption at the Capital.,”

On Friday, Gov. Jim Doyle signed a bill passed almost unanimously by the Legislature, officially creating the Government Accountability Board.

The GAB, as politicians in Madison are calling it, combines the State Ethics and State Elections boards, increasing the power and resources of the Board to investigate corruption in the capital.

GAB will be comprised of six retired judges who will be appointed by the governor.

Initially, three judges will be selected from both the Democratic and Republican parties to fill the positions.

GAB will receive funds from an independent source, which means it will not need to rely on legislators to grant funds. In the past, the ethics and elections boards had requested grants from the Senate and Assembly even though the boards may have been investigating them.

According to Bob Delaporte, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem), the old elections board provided for equal partisan representation and no one took any action unless something was considered egregious by both sides.

Jay Heck, executive director of the Madison-based political watchdog group Common Cause, said the elections board did not investigate many cases in the past.

According to Josh Westcott, communications director for Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson (D-Beloit), people have been interested in finding better ways to investigate elections over the past couple years.

"We found a way to minimize partisan influence of the agency," he said.

Gov. Doyle called on the Legislature to act quickly in preparing and presenting the bill.

Both Democrats and Republicans believe something needed to be done to improve the investigation process for elections.

"Ninety-eight percent of the bill was immediately agreed upon and everybody realized that it was something we all wanted," Delaporte said. "This comes down to the right people doing the right things."

Sen. Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) and Common Cause proposed creating a political agency for investigating corruption, according to Heck.

GAB is "a stronger entity" than the two boards it is replacing, Heck said.

He said he believes GAB will be effective because it is independently funded and judges serving on the board are nonpartisan.

"GAB requires judges who know the law and will check biases at the door," Delaporte said.

The board comes in the wake of one of the biggest scandals in Wisconsin state politics history, according to Heck.

Five legislative leaders have been convicted in the last two years because they used taxpayer money to pay campaign workers.

Heck called it the "legislative caucus scandal," which he said ruined Wisconsin's political reputation.

"We used to be one of the cleanest states in the country but our reputation has fallen in the last 10 years," he said. "Politicians will have to earn their trust back and this board is the first step in doing so."

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