GAB: No comment on petition publication

MADISON - The Government Accountability Board still has not posted the recall petitions against Scott Walker online. The petitions were supposed to be posted Monday. The GAB announced early Monday evening the postings were indefinitely delayed. The board claims domestic violence victims expressed concern about their names and addresses being released.

On Tuesday, the Government Accountability Board said it had not reached a decision yet as to whether the online publication of those signatures is a violation of privacy.

The GAB and the state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said Tuesday that this won’t slow down the timeline for challenging those recall signatures.

Van Hollen said in a press conference Tuesday that it’s up to the Government Accountability Board to make the determination on whether to publish the more than a million signatures and addresses on petitions to recall Governor Walker.

“The GAB makes the determination. The law does not mean it has to be online, but it has to be submitted as public record,” said Van Hollen.

The petitions to recall four Republican state senators were published by the GAB last week.

Republicans say the information gathered on the recall petitions against the governor is already available to the public, even if it’s not online.

“It’s a matter of public record. You can go to the public library and look up someone’s voter registration information or campaign finance reports. Again, the issue is this is what’s been done with all recall elections in the past. Recall petitions are a matter of open record in Wisconsin,” said Ben Sparks of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Democrats and Republicans both say they understand the Government Accountability Board has the responsibility to disclose the information as public record, and doing so online might be the most cost and time effective way of getting that information out.

However, Democrats say in politically contentious times, some people who signed petitions may be concerned about their safety.

“Whether or not those pose a concern to their safety, it’s not for me to say. But those concerns are very valid, and they should be taken into consideration,” said Democratic State Representative Fred Clark of Baraboo.

The Government Accountability Board spokesperson declined to go on camera until a decision about the release of the signatures has been reached.

He says if people have concerns, they can contact the GAB.

The attorney general says while his office has the power to take legal action against the GAB, he does not expect that to be necessary at this point.