GOP-led committee recommends rejecting 2 UW regents
A state Senate committee has recommended rejecting the nominations of two members serving on the state public university board, both of whom voted against a deal struck with the Legislature to restructure campus diversity positions.
The GOP-controlled Senate Committee on Universities and Revenue voted 5-3 Friday along party lines to reject John Miller and Dana Wachs to the University of Wisconsin Board of
Regents. Both men were appointees of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
The committee also voted 7-1 to confirm Regent Amy Bogost, with Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, opposing.
Firing Miller and Wachs would require a full Senate vote. If the Senate rejected the appointees, Evers would name replacements.
The chamber has just one week left in this legislative session. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, did not immediately return a request for comment on whether he would bring the appointees to the floor for a vote.
Who are UW Regents John Miller and Dana Wachs?
Wachs is an Eau Claire attorney who has previously served in the Legislature as a Democratic Assembly representative. He joined the UW Board of Regents in 2022 for a term ending in 2029.
“My phone is ringing off the hook about running in the 93rd Assembly District to go back to the Legislature after this,” he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Friday. “If I’m called back into partisan politics, so be it. We’ll see.”
Miller founded a Milwaukee-based venture capital firm. He was appointed in 2021 for a term that would end in 2028. He declined to comment Friday.
Bogost, a Madison-based attorney, serves as the board’s vice president. She joined the board in 2020 for a term ending in 2027.
Why did Senate commitee reject nominations?
Sen. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, who chairs the committee, didn’t immediately return a request for comment on the votes.
A few months earlier, Senate President Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, suggested the board’s vote on a deal over pay raises, building projects and campus diversity efforts would inform lawmakers’ decisions on whether to approve the unconfirmed appointees.
“It’s good to know before their upcoming Senate confirmation votes that several Regents chose their sacred ideology over getting our students ready for their careers,” Kapenga wrote on social media a few days after the board initially rejected the deal.
The regents eventually reversed course a few days later. Key to the deal’s approval were Bogost and two others flipping their votes.
Miller and Wachs voted against the deal both times, citing concern about UW priorities being held hostage in future budgets.
“Precedent matters, and this sets a bad one,” Miller said last December.
Does Senate often reject UW Board of Regents appointees?
The Senate has rejected just one member of the UW Board of Regents in the last 30 years, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau, which has records dating back to the 1981-82 session.
Then-Gov. Tommy Thompson nominated Sheboygan businessman Terry Kohler to the UW Board of Regents but his pick came under fire in 1991 for remarks against Democrats, gay people and South African Black people. The Senate rejected Kohler’s nomination in a 19-14 vote.
How many other UW regents are unconfirmed?
The Senate approved a swath of the governor’s picks last fall, some of whom had been serving more than three years unconfirmed. Just one of Evers’ remaining appointees on the board, Ashok Rai, remains unconfirmed.
The Senate universities committee approved Rai but the full Senate didn’t vote on him. Rai voted in favor of the diversity deal both times.
LeMahieu’s office didn’t immediately respond to a question about why Rai’s nomination didn’t get a full floor vote.
What does the UW Board of Regents do?
The UW Board of Regents oversees University of Wisconsin System campuses. Among its responsibilities is approving policies, setting tuition rates and hiring chancellors.
Serving as regent is an unpaid position.
The 18-member board includes two unappointed members, the state superintendent of public instruction and a member of the state Technical College System board. Governors appoint the other 16 members.