Battle over Regents seats looms
9:59 PM 1/14/03
Karen Rivedal Higher education reporter

A game of musical chairs confronts the UW Board of Regents just as more pressing issues than who sits where loom.

Because of the state's $2.6 billion projected budget deficit, the University of Wisconsin System soon must make hard decisions about raising tuition, cutting programs, curbing enrollment and the like. But the membership of the governing board is in flux because two sitting regents whom Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle wants out say they won't go.

But Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer, R-West Bend, in a potentially game-ending move Tuesday, said she thinks at least one of them, Alfred De Simone, should be allowed to serve through the spring as he desires.

"You ought to be fair and respectful to citizens who want to serve their government," said Panzer, who can try to hold up Doyle's plans by convincing Senate members to reject or ignore Doyle's nominee for the seat, Jesus Salas.

If the Senate doesn't act soon, the issue would come to a head at the next Regents' meeting Feb. 6 and 7, when both the reluctant-to-leave regents - De Simone and Gerard Randall - and their would-be replacements - Salas and Danae Davis - say they all will show up, creating an unworkable situation.

"I just don't like the way I've been treated," De Simone said on Tuesday, a day after Doyle appointed Salas of Sheboygan to replace him. "If they want to throw me out, they can, but I'm not going to resign."

Salas isn't backing down, either.

"There's only one chair," Salas said. "We'll see who sits on it."

Panzer said Doyle could resubmit Salas' name in June. Salas, an instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College, said Tuesday he had been studying the minutes of the last board meeting and was eager to begin serving his term despite the controversy.

"This time of fiscal crisis that we're involved in is unprecedented and the next three to four months are crucial," Salas said.

Doyle downplayed the controversy, expressing faith that the Senate would sort things out.

"It's the governor's prerogative to name the regents," Doyle said. "I've named some really outstanding people. I expect the Senate will do what their responsibility is.

"We'll just have to see how this plays out. From my understanding, this is the first time any sitting regent, or any regent who is past their term, has sort of clung to the job like this. But I've appointed people who I believe should replace those two on the board, and I think that's what's best."

Panzer said she hadn't spoken to Randall about his plans, so she hadn't made a decision about that appointment. But Randall was clear in an interview Tuesday that he wants to continue serving.

"I guess they'll just have to bring more chairs," he said.

Members of the Board of Regents are appointed by the governor to seven-year terms. But sitting regents can be replaced by a subsequent governor - as three others were this week - if their terms aren't confirmed by the state Senate. Those appointees are considered "provisional," Panzer said, and as such they must leave immediately if a governor chooses to remove them.

Randall and De Simone fit into a second group of appointees, known as "holdovers," Panzer said. That type of appointee has been confirmed and has been reappointed - with or without a second confirmation - or has agreed to continue serving at the request of a governor.

By law, holdovers can refuse to be replaced until their successor is confirmed by the Senate, said Panzer and other officials, including Board President Guy Gottschalk.

Randall was reappointed by former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson to his second seven-year term in May 2001. The Senate never confirmed the second term, but his first one was.

De Simone was appointed by Thompson and confirmed by the Senate in July 1995 to a term that ended last May. But De Simone was asked to continue serving - without a formal reappointment - by former Gov. Scott McCallum.

The Senate can resolve the disagreement when they meet to consider Doyle's nominations. Panzer said she could not promise that the Senate would act on them in late January, but she hoped it could.

"We are sorting this through," Panzer said. "We've really never had this before."

The Senate is busy with 127 people nominated to boards and commissions by Doyle this week. Doyle was able to nominate many people quickly because the previous Senate, controlled by Democrats, had stalled more than 200 Republican appointments, withholding confirmation and thus making them vulnerable to removal.

State Journal reporter Phil Brinkman contributed to this story.