Sweeping ethics reform legislation introduced earlier this year is scheduled for its first vote in the state Legislature Jan. 22.

Gov. Jim Doyle called a special session of the Legislature Jan. 11 to pass an ethics-reform package that would merge the State Ethics and Elections boards into a Government Accountability Board of six former judges.

Drafted by a bipartisan coalition of Doyle, state Assembly Republicans and Senate Democrats, the bill would authorize the board access to unlimited resources to investigate criminal and civil offenses relating to ethics, lobbying and campaign-finance statutes.

“This bill has the strong meat-and-potato elements of what we wanted to get done,” said Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, at a Jan. 16 public hearing held by the state Assembly Committee of Judiciary and Ethics. “It will be a good start.”

Committee Chair Rep. Mark Gundrum, R-New Berlin, had planned for a vote Jan. 18, but decided the committee needed more time to amend the bill after officials raised concerns that certain provisions were unconstitutional.

In its first draft, the bill banned employees from pursuing political office for one year after leaving the board, which may impede a person’s legal right to run for office.

Officials also criticized the bill because it was unclear whether accused persons had the constitutional right to be prosecuted in their home county. At the committee’s public hearing, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen also said the bill needed to be revised so that it clearly expressed that it does not restrict the authority of the Department of Justice.

State lawmakers and government watchdog groups have also opposed the bill’s non-severability provision, which states that if any part of the bill were found unconstitutional, the entire bill would be scrapped.

State Sen. Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, encouraged the committee to remove the provision, but if not, at least include a clause that would reinstate the current Ethics and Elections boards so there would be no period without a government policing agency.

The Assembly committee is scheduled to vote on the bill Jan. 22, while the state Senate Committee on Ethics Reform and Government Operations met for its first public hearing Jan. 18.

Feingold, Obama introduce ethics legislation

U.S. Senators Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Barrack Obama, D-Ill., are working to pass legislation that would reform lobbying and ethics policies in Congress.

“We now have the opportunity to give the American people what they deserve and demanded in November — real ethics and lobbying reform that holds their elected officials to the highest ethical standards,” Feingold said in a Jan. 8 statement.

The Feingold-Obama bill adds to Senate bill 2349, the lobbying and ethics bill passed by the Senate last year. If passed, Feingold-Obama would, among other things, ban lobbyists’ gifts and curb privately funded travel, establish an Office of Public Integrity and widen open-government policy in the Senate.

The State Ethics Board fined Gov. Jim Doyle $300 Dec. 28 for purchasing Packers tickets four years ago from a Midwest utility lobbyist.

According to an investigation report by the board, Doyle purchased five tickets from the Wisconsin Public Service Corporation for a Dec. 7, 2003 Packers-Bears game at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. The tickets were purchased at face value, $63 each, for Doyle, his two sons and two of their friends.

Wisconsin law prohibits lobbyists from furnishing anything of value to elected state officials. Explaining his attendance to the board, Doyle said attending Packers games is a traditional symbol of support for Wisconsin and “a great unifying event for this state.”

Ethics Board legal counsel Jonathan Becker said the board chose $300 after looking at past fines, timeliness, intent and other factors. Because the event occurred four years ago and was not intended to cause harm, Becker said the board gave Doyle a “balanced penalty.”