Nicholson ousts head of Milwaukee County Pension Board
Milwaukee County Board Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson announced Friday that she has removed the controversial chairman of the county Pension Board.
Nicholson said she is replacing Michael Harper on the retirement panel with Nicole Best, chief financial officer and chief administrative officer of Heartland Advisors, a local investment company. The County Board chair has two appointees on the 10-member Pension Board.
“As a CPA and an investment advisor with extensive non-profit board experience, as well as experience auditing pension plans, Nicole is exceptionally well-qualified to serve on the Milwaukee County Pension Board,” Nicholson said in a statement. “In addition to her experience, I was also impressed with Nicole’s values, including her commitment to racially equitable financial literacy and to public service.”
Pension Board members serve three-year terms. They oversee a $1.5 billion fund for 13,000 workers and retirees.
Harper was appointed to the Pension Board in 2015 by then-County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb Sr., who lost in his bid for Milwaukee County executive earlier this year.
At the time, the deputy corporation counsel said Harper didn’t have a conflict of interest even though his mother was receiving a county pension.
County ordinances ban Pension Board appointees from having a “family member” who receives retirement benefits from the county, but county rules don’t define who counts as a family member.
In 2018, Lipscomb reappointed Harper.
But, as the Journal Sentinel reported, Milwaukee
County Corporation Counsel Margaret Daun reviewed the matter earlier this year and sought a legal opinion of an attorney with Duane Morris, a Philadelphiabased law firm. Daun then informed Lipscomb that Harper had to go because of his conflict.
Instead, Lipscomb drafted a change in the conflict-of-interest rules that would have allowed Harper to stay on as chairman of the Pension Board. Lipscomb’s proposal came under sharp criticism from Daun and then-County Executive Chris Abele.
The proposed ordinance never made it to a full County Board for a vote.
In her news release, Nicholson noted the controversy over Harper’s conflict. Still, she thanked him for his five years of service on the county retirement board.