• Home
  • News
    • Politics / Govt
    • Legislature
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
    • Archives
  • Sports
    • Badgers
    • Packers
      • Titletown Report
    • Brewers
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support

Wisconsin Radio Network

Wisconsin News and Sports

You are here: Home / Legislature / Senate to hold confirmation votes for ethics and election administrators

Senate to hold confirmation votes for ethics and election administrators

January 23, 2018 By Andrew Beckett

Senate chambers

Despite weeks of attempting to change their minds, members of the state Senate are expected to vote today on whether to confirm the current administrators of the state Ethics and Elections Commissions.

The vote comes after a Department of Justice investigation was released late last year into a leak of information from a secret John Doe investigation that targeted Governor Scott Walker’s campaign and conservative groups. While the investigation did not identify the source of the leak, it found it most likely came from the former Government Accountability Board – an agency both Elections administrator Mike Haas and Ethics administrator Brian Bell worked for. Due to their past connections, Republican senators have questioned whether the two can remain impartial.

Bell and Haas have spent weeks defending their records and have the unanimous support of the commissions they represent. They have also asked that their nominations to head up the agencies be given a public hearing – a request GOP leaders have refused to grant.

Haas, who was head of the elections divisions under the old GAB, has argued that he had no real connection to the John Doe investigation other than working on some legal briefs. Bell, did not work on the investigation and has even said he left the GAB in 2015 because he disagreed with some of the partisan influences within the agency. The Ethics Commission also released an investigative report Monday into Bell’s conduct, which was done at his request, which found there was “not a scintilla of evidence” he has been partisan with his decisions.

Republicans hold a majority of seats in the Senate, but the outcome of the confirmation votes for Haas and Bell still remain unclear. While Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has previously said he doesn’t believe either has the votes needed for confirmation, there has been some indication that at least a few lawmakers are undecided heading into Tuesday’s vote.

If rejected, Elections Commission Chairman Mark Thomsen has insisted that only the members of the bipartisan commission that oversees the agency can actually fire Haas, and it will require a lawsuit by the Senate to remove him. Bell, on the other hand, has said that lawmakers rejecting his confirmation will mark the end of his work at the agency.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Legislature, News, Politics / Govt, Top Story



Featured Stories

Pro-life groups condemn Kahl lawsuit to overturn 1849 abortion ban

Wisconsin politicians react as SCOTUS overturns Roe v. Wade

Republicans gavel in and out of special session to overturn Wisconsin’s abortion law

Juneteenth flag raised at Wisconsin Capitol

Gableman invokes 5th amendment, elections probe found in contempt in open records case

TwitterFacebook

Sports Headlines

Giannis breaks franchise scoring record, Bucks beat Nets in OT

Wisconsin’s Davis declares for NBA Draft

Badgers to face Arizona State in Las Vegas Bowl

Williams likely out for the season with broken hand

Packers releasing TE Jace Sternberger

More Sports

Tweets by @WRN

Get our news delivered to your inbox:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Copyright © 2022 · Learfield News & Ag, LLC

 

Loading Comments...