Jay Heck of Common Cause is pushing back hard against the legislature reforming the Government Accountability Board.

The GAB is composed of six retired judges, who make decisions on a non-partisan basis. “That’s what it’s supposed to do,” Heck said. “It’s not supposed to please the partisans. It’s supposed to be independent and nonpartisan.”

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has pledged to make changes at the GAB. “They’re attacking a state agency that is entrusted with being nonpartisan and being independent,” Heck said. “If they suddenly make it partisan and dependent on the Republican leadership, then no citizen in the state is going to have confidence in the GAB. And I think that would be a real problem for Republicans in the ling run.

That’s the problem. The GAB is supposed to be non-partisan, but its actions on anything borderline have been almost exclusively in favor of Democrats. It is not working as it was designed to work. That is why is needs reform. The fact that Heck opposes reforming the GAB confirms for me how badly it needs it.