McCabe's group was influential in banning the legislative caucus staff that performed campaign work on state time. He also helped pass laws that created a public financing system for state Supreme Court races and established the nonpartisan Government Accountability Board to oversee elections and ethics laws — though both those laws were later repealed by Scott Walker. With McCabe as executive director, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign tracked campaign contributions during state elections in pursuit of its mission, which is to "advocate for a real democracy that allows the common good to prevail over narrow interests by reinforcing and protecting the values of honesty, fairness, transparency, accountability, citizen participation, competition, and respect for constitutional rights and the rule of law."
