When Governor Jim Doyle was inaugurated Jan. 6, one of the first things he did was ask for the dismissal of over 120 appointments pending confirmation by the Senate, including nine unconfirmed appointments to the University of Wisconsin-System Board of Regents. Last Monday, Doyle announced five replacement appointments to the board.
Former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala prevented the state Congress from confirming the five former regents, all appointed by former Republican governors Tommy Thompson or Scott McCallum, which allowed Doyle to withdraw the nominations.
After Doyle exercised his prerogative to appoint new regents, two of the old regents, Randall and Alfred De Simone, said pursuant to state law they would not leave the board until their appointed replacements have been approved by the Congress.
The law allows Randall and DeSimone to stay on because they had been confirmed previously and were waiting for confirmations of their second terms, and the current Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer, R-West Bend, plans to support the pair.
“My belief is that if the process had proceeded the way it was designed to, there would be no appointments to be made,” said Gerald Randall, one of the regents being replaced by Doyle. “The Senate Education Committee had acted and unanimously recommended a Senate vote for confirmation.”
The new appointees to the board are Mark Bradley, a Wausau attorney; Peggy Rosenzweig, a former State Senator; Jesus Salas, a bilingual teacher taught at UW-Milwaukee, UW-Madison and Milwaukee Area Technical College; David Walsh, a partner at the Madison law firm of Foley and Lardner, and Danae Davis, the director of staffing and diversity at Miller Brewing Company. All five appointees are products of the UW System.
“These are five highly qualified and talented individuals who will bring a breadth of experience to the board,” Doyle said. “I didn’t find anything objectionable about anyone I’m replacing. But I think there are a lot of great people who can help the university, and I decided to make the change.”
Randall was disappointed he was replaced, but said he would continue to serve the UW System until his appointment was approved.
“At this point, to just walk away from the work I’ve dedicated myself to would be unreasonable,” Randall said.
The other deposed regents, James Klauser, Lolita Schneiders and Phyllis Krutsch, cannot protest in similar fashion because they were waiting confirmations that were not for second consecutive terms.
Panzer said the Senate will try to confirm the governor’s appointments as soon as possible but has notified UW System officials that DeSimone and Randall should be the regents sitting on the board during the next meeting Feb. 7 and 8.
Panzer said it was important for DeSimone and Randall to continue to serve in order to provide continuity on the board while it tries to work out budget concerns in the coming months.
Doyle asked current regent Jay Smith to continue to serve on the board until a replacement is announced. Smith played an important role in recent board actions, bringing experience to the board while it was trying to deal with budget cuts; however, Doyle said board membership should not be based upon seniority.
“The Board of Regents is not about seniority; it’s about doing what’s best for the university,” Doyle said.
Board of Regents president Guy Gottschalk agreed the board is not about seniority but said at times it could be about experience.
“It’s the governor’s prerogative. I respect that. We will try to assimilate the new appointees,” Gottschalk said. “The only way to get experience is to get going.”
Gottschalk said working with new regents in the midst of such pressing issues would be difficult, but that it would not be an insurmountable experience.
Regent Schneiders agreed and said it took a long time to learn the intricacies of the UW System.
“It takes a couple of years to grasp how vast the System is,” she said.
