This legislation is about one thing – exerting political control over the independent executive branch agency charged with administering and enforcing campaign finance, election, ethics and lobbying laws. The reasons given for doing away with the G.A.B. are based on inaccurate, incomplete and, in many cases, completely false assertions by the proponents of this legislation. This legislation appears to be rooted in the unfounded belief that non-partisan judges base their decisions on hidden political agendas and not on an objective analysis of the law’s application to specific facts.
The bill’s authors say they want to bring transparency and accountability to the new Commissions, but this bill will not do that. The only real change is to add partisan labels to the Commissioners. The bill does nothing to lift the veil of secrecy imposed on the current practices of the Government Accountability Board’s advice, compliance and enforcement work.