Government Accountability Board

Frequently Asked Questions

This Frequently Asked Questions is being added to all the time. Please check back again for new entries.

Questions	Answers
2009 GAB 01 - CAMPAIGN FINANCE/CANDIDATES	The Government Accountability Board advises: A campaign committee can legally pay court-ordered costs awarded to the defendant in litigation initiated by the committee and for which it was the named plaintiff, when the lawsuit was related to a political purpose, specifically, attempting to enjoin communications which expressly advocated the defeat of a candidate.
2008 GAB 09 - DISQUALIFICATION; IMPROPER USE OF OFFICE	The Government Accountability Board advises: 1) A member of an agency governing body who would receive an allocation of business opportunities regulated by the agency should not participate, in an official capacity, to increase those opportunities while the official is one of only a handful of licensees eligible for such increase. 2) The official may not shield himself or herself from application of the Ethics Code by transferring the member’s allocation to a sibling unless the official can demonstrate that the transaction is not a mere sham and that neither the official nor the official’s company will profit from the increase.
2008 GAB 08 - CAMPAIGN FINANCE	The Government Accountability Board advises: 1) A limited liability company may not give office space to a candidate’s legislative campaign committee, even if the candidate is a principal, or the sole, owner of the company. 2) A candidate’s legislative campaign committee may rent office space from a company owned by the candidate at a fair market value.
2008 GAB 07 - IMPROPER USE OF OFFICE; LOBBYING & LOBBYISTS; LOCAL OFFICIALS	The Government Accountability Board advises that the company may not provide a discount to state or local government officials covered by the Ethics Code or lobbying law, even if the discount is made available to employees of the company’s other customers, but may provide a discount if the state or a local government has negotiated discounts for its employees as part of a contract with the company.
2008 GAB 06 - LOBBYING & LOBBYISTS	The Government Accountability Board advises: 1) A PAC may purchase public opinion research from a vendor if the research is for a political purpose, a vendor sells research at a price calculated, at a minimum, to recoup the vendor’s costs, and the price at which the vendor sells research to each purchaser is comparable for a comparable product. Such sale would not result in an in-kind contribution to the PAC from the vendor under these circumstances 2) Absent collusion among purchasers, we do not consider other purchasers of the research to be subsidizing an individual PAC’s purchase even though it may fairly be said that, without other purchasers, the price of the product may be greater. 3) Public opinion research that a PAC uses in determining who to support, how much support to give a candidate, the message the PAC wants to convey about a candidate, and the like is a political purpose.
2008 GAB 05 - FEES AND HONORARIUMS, LOBBYING & LOBBYISTS	The Government Accountability Board advises that a judge may not accept, for participating in a program, an award that is a glass plate on an inscribed base, valued at $400, which is furnished by an organization that is a lobbying principal. An appropriate disposition of the award would be donating it to the court system, through the director of state courts.
2008 GAB 04 - IMPROPER USE OF OFFICE	The Government Accountability Board advises that a state agency may not knowingly permit the use of confidential information by University of Wisconsin student interns for the benefit of the students’ program, when the programs assets are held by a private entity for the program’s benefit.
2008 GAB 03 - LOCAL OFFICIALS	The Government Accountability Board advises that ¶19.59, Wisconsin Statutes, does not prohibit a county board from hosting an appreciation dinner for county employees nor county employees from accepting the dinner. Section 19.45 (3) prohibits a district attorney and circuit court judge from accepting the meal without paying for it.
2008 GAB 02 - DISQUALIFICATION	The Government Accountability Board advises that a legislator who is a lawyer may participate in the consideration and vote on a resolution which is a proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit the Supreme Court from assessing lawyers to pay for legal services for the indigent.
2008 GAB 01 - REPRESENTATION OF CLIENTS	The Government Accountability Board advises that a legislator continue the practice of not communicating with state agencies on behalf of special purpose districts that the legislator represents and that the legislator refer questions from department employees to other representatives of the districts who are not state public officials.
2009 GAB 02 - DISQUALIFICATION	The Government Accountability Board advises: Under the facts described, three members of a citizen board that oversees a state agency who participate in an agency program may also take part in discussions and votes related to rules for that program.
An Index of Formal Opinions - Elections	An index of formal opinions - election related issues.
An Index of Formal Opinions - Campaign Finance	An index of formal opinions - campaign finance related issues.

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GAB May 2013 Meeting

May 21, 2013 - 9:00am
GAB August 2013 Meeting

August 13, 2013 - 9:00am
GAB October 2013 Meeting

October 22, 2013 - 9:00am

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