Faced with the opportunity Wednesday to reverse its ruling that gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis., return nearly $468,000, the State Elections Board decided to let the original order to return the funds stand.

None of the nine board members, including the board's three Republican members, was in favor of reversing the earlier ruling.

And though Democratic Elections Board member Robert Kasieta had previously said he planned to introduce a motion for the SEB to order Green to divest another $775,000, the issue also went untouched.

Kasieta filed the motion that ultimately led to the Aug. 30 vote by the board ordering Green to rid his campaign of $467,844 from out-of-state political action committees. The disputed contributions were part of $1.3 million Green transferred from his federal campaign account to his state campaign account one day after the Elections Board ruled gubernatorial candidates could use only contributions from PACs registered in Wisconsin.

Green for Wisconsin's attorney Don Millis filed a "voluntary dismissal" of the campaign's lawsuit Friday to block the SEB from enforcing its order. Millis added he plans to file a new lawsuit directly to the state Supreme Court this week.

"Theoretically, the rule is very broad," he said. "Any case can be brought to the Supreme Court, especially if it proposes important or novel issues of law never dealt with before."

Millis added the case will be heard only by the discretion of the justices.

But Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle's campaign said Green should have to get rid of the contributions, having "lost on the merits of his case many times."

"He had lost the vote in front of the State Elections Board, then lost in Dane County Circuit Court. And the state Department of Justice attorneys believe his campaign contributions to be illegal, as does the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign," Anne Lupardus, press secretary for Doyle's campaign, said.

In their legal brief to Dane County Circuit Court Judge Richard Niess — who sided with the SEB in his Sept. 25 ruling — the DOJ attorneys representing the SEB cited the federal Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002. The DOJ attorneys said the BCRA restricts Green from transferring all but $43,128 of the $1.3 million he transferred from his federal campaign account.

Though Millis said he is uncertain of when the case will be decided, he added he hopes to have a ruling before the Nov. 7 general election.