Ethics Takes Another Hit at the State Capitol

Read this.

Can you imagine a more tone deaf group than the Republican Assembly leadership and members?

Do as I say, not as I do.

Yikes.

For the record, I think Roth Judd is a very able and talented public servant. The problem is - hence my strong support for SB-1 - every time the State Ethics Board wants to do an investigation into lawmaker wrongdoing, they have to go to the Joint Finance Committee to get funding. The legislature doesn’t give them enough funding to independently do their jobs. The result? The director has to come hat-in-hand to get funding from the very group he may need to investigate. That’s ridiculous.

The current way the Ethics Board is funded makes it hard for truly independent investigations to occur. I commend Judd on the job he has done with the odd situation and limited resources he has had. But continuing the current way ethics is enforced in Wisconsin makes Judd less able to be as independent and aggressive as necessary. And that is the tragedy we have with the current structure.

By the way, Republican Assembly and Senate leadership once again ignored requests by the Governor, legislative Democrats and good government groups to take up SB-1 during the Extraordinary Session we had this week.

Tone deaf.


UPDATE: Read Friday's Capital Times editorial....Gard fights against ethics.