Accountable to No One

Friday Governor Doyle vetoed AB 1182. The bill would have required the Department of Administration to submit a report to the Joint Finance Committee documenting the costs and savings associated with Doyle’s Accountability, Consolidation and Efficiency (ACE) initiative. Doyle vetoed a similar measure in the state budget last year.

The Governor’s latest pretext for treating the legislature like so many mushrooms is that the reporting requirement will raise “a barrier between the Department of Administration and the Legislature.”

So let me get this straight: providing the legislature with information they’ve requested would raise a barrier between the legislature and the Administration, but usurping their authority to appropriate funds through the use of partial vetoes, and implementing administrative rules to undo legislation, is sure to foster an amicable relationship.

Honestly, who comes up with this crap?

The fact is the legislature passed AB 1182 after several state agencies, the University and the media began to question the cost-effectiveness of several ACE projects. The bill also followed the Legislative Audit Committee vote to audit several IT projects including the state server consolidation, a cornerstone of the ACE initiative.

In his veto message the Governor said he finds it ironic that AB1182 requires more paperwork for DOA when the goal of ACE is to make government less bureaucratic. I find it ironic that the Governor refuses to provide information to the legislature and the public on an initiative that starts with “accountability.” It really makes you wonder what the Administration is trying to hide.

And I think the timing of the veto is ironic given that Doyle’s most notorious ACE project - involving Adelman Travel - will be carefully scrutinized in Federal court next week. I guess we're all accountable to someone.