The embattled administrator of the elections commission wasn’t confirmed by the Senate last week, but for the second time in a week, the commission voted to keep him on as interim administrator.
That comes even after Senate Majority leader Scott Fitzgerald — who’s led the charge against Haas — says him staying on is illegal.
But the majority of the commission disagrees — even though Fitzgerald says if they don’t pick someone new by March 9th, a legislative committee made up of a Republican majority will pick a new administrator.
The commission voted today to meet again on March 2nd to vote on the administrator position a third time. Commissioner Dean Knudsen was one of the members who voted not to appoint Haas after the Senate vote and again today. He says waiting that long puts the decision to close to Fitzgerald’s deadline.
But Commission Chair Mark Thomsen says that search process could be tricky. He says they’ll have trouble finding a new director if the Senate can boot people as easily as they did last week.
All this stems from a Department of Justice report that found the now-defunct Government Accountability Board mishandled confidential documents related to Governor Scott Walker’s campaign financing. Although Haas worked at the agency at the time, he wasn’t one of the names listed for disciplinary action. The DOJ did not find the source of the John Doe leak and did not find evidence a crime had been committed.