MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Latest on Ethics and Elections commission appointments (all times local):
3:15 p.m.
The Wisconsin Ethics Commission has voted 4-2 to name one of its attorneys as interim director while it conducts a national search.
The commission voted to appoint Colette Reinke to the post for 90 days. Board chairman David Halbrooks says Reinke is not interested in the position permanently.
The commission is seeking a new leader after its prior administrator Brian Bell was not confirmed by the state Senate. Bell left the post last month.
Republican commissioners Pat Strachota and Katie McCallum voted against the appointment.
Also on Tuesday, Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Michael Haas says he will step down and ask the commission to appoint a new interim director at its Friday meeting. Haas was also not confirmed by the Senate, but he was re-appointed as interim director.
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9:05 a.m.
Wisconsin Elections Commission director Michael Haas says he is stepping down, a month after the state Senate rejected his confirmation.
Haas had been re-hired by the commission as an interim administrator despite the Senate’s vote. Haas says in a letter Tuesday that the Senate’s action “has created a major distraction and an untenable situation for the Commission.”
Haas says “it is time for this foolishness to end.”
Haas says he’s asking the commission to appoint a new interim administrator at its meeting Friday.
The state Ethics Commission was meeting Tuesday to appoint an interim director after Brian Bell’s confirmation was also rejected by the Senate.
Unlike Haas, Bell stepped down after the vote.
Senate Republicans were angry with Bell and Haas over their connections with the former Government Accountability Board.
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