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Text of e-mail from Kevin Kennedy
2/4/2009

To all Legislators --

A number of Legislators have raised concerns about the Government Accountability Board's new Campaign Finance Information System and the staff's responsiveness to problems that you or your campaign treasurers have encountered. Although we anticipated that there would be problems and concerns with any new system, we have been surprised by the number. We apologize for the anxiety this has created.

We want to assure you that we are committed to having a user-friendly, intuitive reporting system that will, at the same time, bring to the citizens of this State enhanced transparency and unprecedented accessibility to information about the financing of political campaigns in Wisconsin.

Filing deadline. We understand that many individuals are encountering difficulties in using the system or in being able to file completed reports. Be assured that we are not holding anyone to the deadline or seeking any penalties for late filing. Our staff will work with every filer to ensure that the filing gets done as soon as practicable.

Staff availability. We have been inundated with phone calls and e-mails. The Ethics and Accountability Division has a staff of 5.75 FTE's to administer campaign finance, ethics, and lobbying laws. Staff is responding to all inquiries as fast as we can in the order we receive a communication. Staff has been working nights and weekends to accomplish this. We are very sorry for the delays and ask for your patience.

Timing. There really is no good time to introduce a new reporting system. We thought the beginning of the year, after the Fall election, made sense because it is the start of a new election cycle. We also wanted to be responsive to the Legislature's command to build and implement this system. Unfortunately, our new offices became available, and we were required to begin to pay rent for them, in mid-December. The timing of the move was designed to minimize duplicate rent payments.

The future. We regard the Campaign Finance Information System as a work in progress, not a final product. We will work with legislative leadership of both parties to develop an action plan to: (1) gather from you and produce a comprehensive list of all problems and issues that you encountered; (2) make changes to the system to ensure its functionality and to make using the system more intuitive; (3) enhance training opportunities for legislators and their treasurers, including holding training sessions throughout the state; and (4) demonstrate the system's capabilities to legislators, the press, and public.

While this has not been an easy time for you (or for us), I am confident that we are not far from a system that will be both easy to use and a valuable tool for everyone.

Thank you for your understanding.


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