GAB site gaining popularity

GREEN BAY - UW-Green Bay Student Senator Becca Bartoli says she spends almost two hours a day watching the Government Accountability Board’s web cast of people going over recall petitions.

Bartoli, a Democrat, wasn't happy on Monday when the board delayed the online posting of petitions targeting Governor Scott Walker.

“I was very anxious,” said Bartoli. “I really wanted to get back online to make sure everything was going accordingly.”

Bartoli's feelings were shared by Republican colleague, Trevor Fuller.

“I think it's very important that all the rules and steps are followed properly,” said Fuller.

GAB Director Kevin Kennedy says the pause in the posting process was due to privacy concerns from victims of sexual assault and stalking.

“From our office there is a commitment to openness and transparency and accountability, but you still have to balance that against the rights of individuals who may be victims of any heinous crimes,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy says people were also worried about political retaliation and identity theft. However, Kennedy couldn't quantify the amount of people who called with privacy concerns.

“It's not going to be easy for them to search their names,” said Kennedy. “We do know that there will be aggregators out there who will take this data and will put it into searchable databases.”

Kennedy says with 150,000 pages of petitions, that won't be easy. The GAB website does not contain a search function for the signatures. Kennedy says the software to convert the PDF files is expensive, and it would take a lot of personnel hours.

Since Friday, the GAB says 54,000 people have visited its web site.

For Bartoli, she says that number will keep going up if the rest of Wisconsin is anything like UW-Green Bay's student government.

“A lot of us in SGA, we're a bunch of poli-sci nerds, so we enjoy stuff like this,” said Bartoli.