Just six months into his term, Reserve Judge Robert Kinney has resigned from the newWisconsin Ethics Commission, saying its rules require too much secrecy and almost completely shut out the public.
Kinney says the final straw for him occurred in October, when three members of the commission voted to strike from its mission statement the words, "furthering Wisconsin's tradition of clean and open government," although those words still appear on the panel's web site.
Kinney released a statementMonday saying:
"At a time when public confidence in elected officials has been deeply eroded, we should be doubling down on our efforts to enforce campaign finance, ethics, and lobbying laws. When charges of financial or ethical improprieties are leveled, or allegations of quid pro quo corruption are made, they must be thoroughly and timely investigated, and, if warranted, aggressively prosecuted. Sadly, it appears we have created a system which almost guarantees that this will not occur. It would be an enormous injustice to the People of Wisconsin and to the success of our government in serving them if this agency is relegated to shuffling papers."
Earlier this year, state Republicans abolished the former non-partisan Government Accountability Board, which oversaw state elections and ethics and replaced it on June 30 with a partisan commission consisting of three Republican appointees and three Democrat appointees.
Supporters of the change criticized some decisions the GAB had made, including to become involved in a John Doe investigation into Gov. Walker's 2012 recall campaign. Opponents of the switch predicted the even-numbered partisan replacement would result in intransigence.
Kinney says the new commission did make several decisions early on, which required four votes, but he insists several members have since taken to nit-picking, treating staff disrespectfully and brushing aside the essential goals of the agency. It's charged with enforcing Wisconsin's campaign finance, ethics and lobbying laws.
The Reserve Judge was a Democratic appointee to the ethics panel.
