The state Ethics Commission remains united behind its director.

Bipartisan commission supports keeping him; Senate Republicans want to fire him

MADISON – The state Ethics Commission remained unified behind its director Thursday, even as Republicans who control the Legislature seek to remove him from office.

The three Republicans joined the three Democrats on the commission to back their administrator, Brian Bell. The vote underscores the divide between Republicans on the commission who back him and Republicans in the Senate who want to push him out of his job.

Support for Bell comes as the commission conducts an investigation of Bell that he requested an effort to clear his name. The commission has hired former Dane County Circuit Judge Patrick Fiedler to conduct that review.

Also Thursday, the Ethics Commission released a report suggesting up to 14% of those attempting to influence the Legislature engaged in unauthorized lobbying because they did not file their paperwork with the state on time.

Republicans who control the state Senate 18-13 have said they will vote Jan. 23 to deny the confirmations of Bell and Michael Haas, director of the Elections Commission.

Republicans called for removing Bell and Haas after GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel released a report last month on a leak of secret material to the Guardian U.S. newspaper from a John Doe investigation of Gov. Scott Walker and other Republicans.

The leak occurred after the state Supreme Court in 2015 shut down the investigation and determined nothing illegal had occurred.

Schimel was unable to identify who leaked the material but said it came from the state Government Accountability Board. GOP lawmakers disbanded that agency and replaced it with the

ethics and elections commissions, which each consists of three Republicans and three Democrats.

Bell and Haas formally worked for the accountability board.

Bell and Haas were not involved in the John Doe probe, though Haas reviewed and edited legal filings after the probe was challenged in court.

Bell said Thursday he left the accountability board in 2014 in part because he did not agree with the way the agency was run.

Bell last month asked for the Ethics Commission to investigate him to clear his name. The review of Bell is being conducted in secret, as most Ethics Commission matters are.

WisPolitics.com first reported Wednesday that Fiedler is leading that investigation. Fiedler met with the Ethics Commission behind closed doors on Thursday.

State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (RJuneau) was contacted by Fiedler this week and declined an interview, Fitzgerald’s chief of staff, Dan Romportl, said Thursday.

Republican senators contend they can remove Bell and Haas from their jobs by voting to deny their confirmations.

Mark Thomsen, the Democratic chairman of the Elections Commission, disputes that and says only the commissions can remove their directors.

J. Mac Davis, a former Republican state senator and former Waukesha County judge who sits on the Ethics Commission, said the Senate has the final say.

Thursday’s report on lobbying found that in the first half of last year, 78 of 539 lobbyists had not registered to lobby as quickly as state law requires.

In addition, 74 of 691 entities that retained lobbyists engaged in unauthorized lobbying, the report found.

The report did not name the lobbyists. The Ethics Commission plans to contact them to confirm whether violations occurred and, if so, try to reach settlements with them.

Mike Wittenwyler, a lawyer for the Association of Wisconsin Lobbyists, questioned aspects of report and disputed the commission’s conclusions on the timing of when paperwork for lobbyists must be filed.