The Milwaukee Post

By JOE SANFELIPPO There's no question we need to make some considerable and meaningful changes to the state Government Accountability Board — if not scrap it entirely and start over fresh. But if we're really going to get serious about overhauling Wisconsin's regulator of campaign finance, elections, ethics and lob- bying laws, we have to put forward a reform bill that ensures the rogue GAB can no longer operate with a hidden political bias. The GAB is statutorily required to be non- partisan, but we have learned otherwise with the agency's involvement in the contro- versial John Doe probe launched in 2012 fol- lowing the historic recall elections. To be quite honest, it's rather naive to believe the six former judges and staff members who make up the GAB can be completely nonpar- tisan. Just because they don't have R's or D's next to their names to identify themselves as Republicans or Democrats doesn't mean they don't have their own political views and, given the opportunity, won't look to push their own agendas. I served on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors for four years and those posi- tions are also intended to be nonpartisan. But I can tell you from personal experience that each and every member of that board held strong political beliefs. The "nonpartisan board" was nonpartisan in name only. The reality of partisanship exists whether a person is elected to government, employed by government or volunteers for govern- ment. But being partisan in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Being partisan only becomes a problem when individuals let their political beliefs cloud their judgment in a way that prevents them from doing their jobs in a professional manner. In fact, it could be argued the non- partisan title actually promotes covert parti- sanship by providing cover for those who intentionally abuse their power to advance their own political ideologies. And that's not just bad news for elected officials who unfairly become targets of the GAB. When someone's constitutional rights are violated, and when it happens way too often, it also leads to an erosion of public trust. That's why we need to stop kidding our- selves and finally accept that it's impossible for the GAB to be entirely nonpartisan in its current form and make the agency complete- ly partisan. To encourage greater accountability and professionalism, Wisconsin would be wise to follow the model of the Federal Election Commission and have state legislative lead- ership appoint six election experts to the GAB, with three of the members identifying as Republicans and the other three as Democrats. That way there will be no hidden agendas and more incentives for Republicans and Democrats to work together for the better- ment of the public. Because four votes would be needed to take any official action, it would be extremely dif- ficult for one side to have a distinct advan- tage. Both parties may try to look out for themselves, but in following the FEC proto- type, they would be compelled to negotiate to find an acceptable solution on all issues, pre- venting the scales from tipping too far in one direction. And you can bet both sides will be watch- ing each other like a hawk, which guarantees greater transparency and compliance for all residents and public officials in the state. If it works for the Federal Election Commission, there's no reason it won't for Wisconsin as well. And in this political cli- mate, a fair and open GAB is something all of us Wisconsinites deserve. (Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, R-New Berlin, repre- sents the 15th Assembly District, which includes West Allis.) 8 • Milwaukee County Post • September 18, 2015 Only a few months after spending hun- dreds of thousands of dollars on the most lavish locker room this side of Lambeau Field, the Arrowhead School Board is plot- ting a referendum to raise taxes. They say they don't have enough money for desper- ately needed repairs. You really can't make this stuff up. Wonder why Wisconsin is still a tax hell? Read the above paragraph. They take great pride in their school up at Arrowhead and rightly so. The Town of Merton school houses kids from several dif- ferent elementary school districts in the affluent Lake Country area of northern Waukesha County. No expense is spared. The athletic facilities are the best in the state, the sports teams win at everything, the academics are top-notch and only the best teachers get hired to be part of the fac- ulty. This has given school administrators the sense that they have carte blanche authority to spend money frivolously. At a school board meeting last week to begin plans for a tax referendum next year, board members and Superintendent Laura Myrah bemoaned the miserable state of some of the facilities. This would be like Donald Trump griping about the condition of his private jet. They said the school audi- torium is unsafe, the football stadium bleachers are in awful shape and the roof is outdated and needs to be replaced. One board member fretted that the auditorium is so dangerous that it is a lawsuit waiting to happen. As usual, what these clowns do is more revealing than what they say. If the audito- rium is indeed unsafe, why hasn't Arrowhead used any of its existing pile of millions to fix it? Instead, the school board and administrators spent over $300,000 for their share of the cost of the infamous lock- er room. (Another $300,000 came from a donor who evidently thinks locker rooms are a pressing humanitarian need.) It's the locker room that has drawn national ridicule with its giant skylight and expen- sive flooring. Either Arrowhead's board is exaggerating the problems of the auditori- um or demonstrating incredible callous- ness in ignoring a safety hazard while building a Taj Mahal-style locker room. The Arrowhead example is instructive for the rest of the state. Even with Governor Walker and the Legislature pass- ing tax-relief laws, many local school boards continue to tax and spend abusively. While state law limits their spending, tax referendum questions can be used for bor- rowing for things like facilities. Irresponsible school officials therefore refuse to take care of routine maintenance in their operating budgets and instead allow facilities to fall into disrepair. They then claim they need the tax referendums to pass to pay the bills they deliberately neglected. It is revealing that this type of brazenly wasteful spending and cavalier taxing comes in the heart of the most conservative area of the state. The Arrowhead area is overwhelmingly Republican. In the last three elections for governor, it produced extremely high voter turnouts and huge margins for Walker and the Republicans. Yet the voters are either total hypocrites in voting for fiscal conservatives while elect- ing local officials who spend money like trust fund brats, or the school board is out of touch with its own constituents. The superintendent, Myrah, is brand-new and came from Whitefish Bay, where the voters are a lot more liberal. The tax push may be the first indication she is bringing north shore liberalism to the lakes. Or, she might just be taking orders from a big-spending school board. Either way, this is Madison- style thinking in the middle of tea party country. The best indication of the insincerity of the Arrowhead board is that it is claiming to have no money for desperately needed repairs while it is failing to take advantage of many of the savings made available by the Act 10 reforms. Arrowhead continues to carry retired faculty and administrators on its health insurance plan. And, the plan itself remains absurdly extravagant with microscopic co-pays and deductibles. The Arrowhead board either believes student safety is less important than handing out absurd benefits to employees or is flat-out lying about how badly the facilities have deteriorated. This scam happens all over the state. School districts refuse to responsibly pay for routine maintenance out of their oper- ating budgets while continuing to waste money from those budgets that Act 10 allows them to conserve. The only way to stop it is for the voters to reject the referen- dum requests. Actually, there is another option and some Republican state legislators have been talking about it. State aid to school dis- tricts could be cut by the exact amount of the referendum funding. Why should tax- payers all over the state pump aid into rich districts like Arrowhead that refuse to responsibly spend that money? Most Wisconsin school districts have the decency and honesty to pay for their ongo- ing maintenance out of their operating budgets. New Berlin, as an example, hasn't had a tax referendum in ages. The referen- dum scam occurs only in the districts whose school board members and adminis- trators treat their taxpayers like suckers and patsies. Back at Arrowhead, Superintendent Myrah and her school board continue to cry about the decrepit bleachers and the aging roof. It would serve them right if the roof leaked right into the $600,000 locker room. (Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show. His column appears weekly in the Milwaukee Post. Send your personal correspondences to Mark Belling at Clear Channel Communications, c/o WISN, 12100 W. Howard Ave., Greenfield, WI 53228). MARK BELLING STANDING UP for MILWAUKEE Why state remains a tax hell: Look no farther than Arrowhead OPINION Partisan is not a four-letter word, especially when fixing the GAB Sanfelippo

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