After John Doe leak, GOP leaders Scott Fitzgerald and Robin Vos want commission heads to resign
MADISON – The Legislature’s top two leaders are calling for the resignations of the heads of the state’s ethics and elections commissions in response to an investigation of the leak of secret material.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) sent letters Thursday to the heads of the two commissions saying they should step down. On Friday, Fitzgerald went further by raising the prospect of forcing the commission leaders out if they didn't quit.
“You have lost the confidence of our caucuses to be an impartial administrator,” Fitzgerald and Vos wrote.
The letters were sent to Michael Haas, the administrator of the Elections Commission, and Brian Bell, the administrator of the Ethics Commission, following a critical report on the two panels from GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel.
In a statement, Haas made clear he was not eager to step down, pointing to his work over the past year that included leading a statewide recount of the presidential vote.
"I look forward to continuing the important work of administering elections on behalf of all Wisconsin residents and taxpayers, and I call on the Legislature to support that work," Haas said.
The Democratic chairman of the Elections Commission, Mark Thomsen, rejected the call for Haas to resign.
"After I learned late last night about Mr. Vos and Mr. Fitzgerald's letter, I talked to Mike Haas and told him under no circumstances would I accept his resignation, knowing full well he had no intention to do so," Thomsen said. "It would be a travesty of justice for him to even consider leaving."
Taking questions after a law enforcement event Friday, Gov. Scott Walker declined to say whether Bell and Haas should resign, saying that Schimel's report stood on its own.
"I can say it many different ways. I might say Merry Christmas, the report speaks for itself. Happy Hanukkah, the report speaks for itself," Walker said.
Fitzgerald contended the Senate could force Bell and Haas out of their jobs in January if they do not voluntarily step down. The two have not been confirmed by the Senate, which Republicans control 19-13.
"Since the release of the Department of Justice report, and through subsequent conversations with legislators, it has become abundantly clear to me that as appointees, Administrators Haas and Bell will never receive the votes necessary for Senate confirmation, which has been the case throughout their tenures," Fitzgerald said in a statement.
The bipartisan Elections Commission this week unanimously approved a resolution supporting Haas.
Two GOP members of the Elections Commission, Jodi Jensen and former state Rep. Dean Knudson, didn't immediately return messages Friday seeking reaction. The husband of a third GOP member, Beverly Gill, hung up on a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter asking about Gill's stance.
Democratic member Ann S. Jacobs said Haas and the Elections Commission had successfully navigated the 2016 presidential election, including a rare statewide recount. Jacobs questioned why the state would want to replace Haas when the next year includes elections for state Supreme Court, governor and U.S. senator.
"How do you run an organization with those kinds of upcoming elections without somebody who knows" the process? Jacobs said.
Similarly, the leaders of the Ethics Commission in a letter this week backed Bell.
David Halbrooks, the Democratic chairman of that commission, said commissioners last week unanimously found that Bell exceeded all expectations in their review of his performance.
"We appreciate the input of the majority leader and speaker and we will take their request under advisement," Halbrooks said.
A former lawmaker and GOP member of the ethics panel, Pat Strachota, told a reporter she had yet to read the letter from Vos and Fitzgerald and couldn't comment on it.
The push to oust Haas and Bell was sparked by a report last week by Attorney General Brad Schimel over the mishandling of documents gathered in a John Doe investigation of Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign. The state Supreme Court shut down that probe in 2015, finding nothing illegal occurred.
Afterward, nearly 1,400 pages of secret documents were published by the Guardian U.S.
Schimel investigated the leak and last week requested contempt-of-court proceedings for nine officials for how they handled evidence. Haas and Bell are not among those whom Schimel wants to find in contempt and the GOP attorney general this week said he is not calling on anyone to resign.
The investigation of Walker’s campaign was conducted by prosecutors and the state Government Accountability Board, which at the time oversaw state ethics and elections laws.
The GOP governor and Republican lawmakers approved dissolving the accountability board in 2015 because they thought it was biased against Republicans. They replaced it with the ethics and elections commissions, which each consists of three Republicans and three Democrats.
In their letters, Vos and Fitzgerald called that move positive but contended "there are still widespread concerns over partisan influence" at the ethics and elections commissions.
RELATED:Dem and GOP ethics regulators clash with Attorney General Brad Schimel over John Doe report
Since taking power in 2011, Republicans have redrawn legislative district lines, required photo IDs from voters and made a number of other election law changes that have provoked bitter criticism from Democrats.
Haas and Bell formerly worked for the accountability board. Haas was not part of the core team involved in the investigation of Walker's campaign, but he reviewed and edited legal filings after that probe was challenged in court.
Bell was not involved in the investigation of Walker's campaign, but Schimel's report was critical of how he and his staff responded to the leak investigation. Ethics commissioners have said Bell handled it as they directed him to.
Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R-Kaukauna) said he lacked confidence in Haas and Bell, in part because they had once worked for the accountability board. He did not provide specifics about what they had done wrong beyond that.
“I think there’s a cloud that hangs over the old GAB and anybody who worked there,” Steineke said.
Haas and Bell were selected by the commissioners to lead their agencies.