A non-partisan watchdog group accused the Government Accountability Board Monday of not enforcing a law that requires candidates to disclose the occupation and employer of donors who give more than $100.
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign filed an open record request about seven weeks ago to investigate missing occupation and employer information for almost $3,800 in contributions made in 2009.
However, the request was denied because state law prohibits the board from releasing certain information, and the GAB “has no records responsive” to WDC’s open records request, Kevin Kennedy, the board’s director, said in a letter.
WDC Executive Director Mike McCabe said in a statement that the law is vital to finance disclosure as “it allows citizens to see the financial interests of big campaign donors.”
According to the WDC, the GAB did not fine any candidates for failing to disclose the required donor information and did not require candidates to fill in incomplete reports or return funds from improperly recorded contributions.
In the letter, Kennedy said state law only requires an election committee to “make a good faith effort to obtain all required information.”
According to Kennedy, it is unrealistic that the board could successfully obtain a forfeiture for the missing information if the committee was making efforts to obtain the information.
The GAB could not provide any further comments.
