When Governor-elect Jim Doyle takes his office on Jan. 6, he will have the power to replace or retain nine of the 17 members of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents.
Four Regents have been serving on the board despite not having their nominations approved by the Senate. Former Gov. Tommy Thompson appointed Regents Gerard Randall, Phyllis Krutsch, Lolita Schneiders and James Klauser. Regents Al De Simone and Jay Smith were asked by Gov. Scott McCallum to continue to serve on the board despite not having been formally re-nominated. These members act on the board with full voting responsibilities, but are not guaranteed a full seven-year term because they have not been approved by the Senate.
The terms of Regents JoAnne Brandes, Patrick Boyle, and Student Regent Tommie Jones will expire in May of 2003.
In the cases of these nine regents, Doyle will have the power to re-nominate each regent to the board, or submit his own nomination. Doyle’s nominations, or re-nominations, will then be subject to the approval of the new state Senate, in which Republicans hold the majority.
“I would hope that Gov. Doyle would take into consideration that many of these members have not gotten a just opportunity to be confirmed by the Senate,” Regent Jones said. “We’re citizens first and foremost. I think that’s a tragedy that these members wouldn’t even get a hearing.”
Current regents have speculated that former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, prevented the last Senate from approving the nominated Regents in a scheme to build party power. Board members say they believe Chvala had hoped at the time a democratic candidate would beat McCallum in the Nov. 5 election, and wanted to allow the new democratic governor to be able to withdraw the nominations made by Thompson and McCallum.
Regents have voiced concerns that a wave of new appointments would mean an inexperienced board.
“When I came onto the board, they told me it would take about two years,” Regent Schneiders said. “They were right. It does take time to understand the complexity of a system with 26 campuses.”
“Because you deal with a large billion dollar entity, you need to have people who will understand the complexity of the system,” Jones said. “Experience would be a great advantage for any member of the board right now.”
Since being elected Nov. 5, Doyle has often publicly stated his desire to work across partisan lines with a republican congress.
“The board is very raw at looking at each issue and very non-partisan in deciding what’s best for the university,” Schneiders said. “Everyone on the board is very committed to continuing the strong access for our state’s students, without sacrificing the quality we have. Access and quality are the two words that we’ve been repeating over and over again when looking at the budget crisis.”