Nino Amato claimed UW System President Katharine Lyall and unidentified \friends"" of Gov. Jim Doyle pressured him to resign from the UW System Board of Regents, investigators from Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager's office reported Friday.
According to the investigators' report, Amato said Wisconsin Technical College President Richard Carpenter e-mailed Amato telling him constituents of the governor were considering removing him from the Board of Regents and the Wisconsin Technical College System Board.
Additionally, UW System Spokesperson Erik Christianson said allegations that Lyall tried to eliminate Amato from both boards were false.
""President Lyall denies that allegation and neither the UW System nor its president play any role in appointing or selecting regents,"" he said.
The attorney general's investigation started with Sen. Tom Reynold's, R-West Allis, disapproval for the poorly publicized Sept. 2 meeting where regents raised pay scale ranges for top UW officials. On Sept. 5, Amato voiced concerns about the clandestine meeting and has said he disagrees with increasing the scales altogether in light of state budget problems.
Though Amato's opinions differ from other regents', Regent Vice President David Walsh said he thinks Amato was never pressured and Lyall would not be concerned with removing only one of 17 regents.
""Nobody should be working to get somebody off the board and I frankly don't believe anybody is,"" Walsh said.
According to Walsh, regents have not discussed pressures to resign and said he was surprised to hear of Amato's claim.
Additionally, Walsh said he is suspicious of information from unnamed ""friends"" of the governor.
""It's one of those classic heresy things,"" he said. ""Somebody should ... find out who those 'friends' are.""
Despite the allegations, Amato said he wants the board to put the issue behind them.
The investigators also reported Lyall had told Regent Secretary Judith Temby that the pay scale range alterations could not wait until the Sept. 4-5 meetings and must be held Sept. 2.
Additionally, on Aug. 22, George Brooks, UW System associate vice president for human resources, e-mailed Temby telling her Christianson recommended minimal publicity for the Sept. 2 meeting, the report said.
However, Christianson said he is not responsible for publicity notices.
""As far as the e-mail, I'm viewing it as a misunderstanding,"" he said.
-The Capital Times
contributed to this report
