MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A conservative University of Wisconsin regent says he won’t step down when his term ends this month.
Then-Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, appointed Robert Atwell to the Board of Regents in May 2017. His seven-year term ends this month.
Atwell sent an email to Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman, regents President Karen Walsh and regents Executive Director Megan Wasley on Monday saying he won’t step down until he chooses to resign or the state Senate confirms a successor.
The state Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that political appointees don’t have to leave their posts until the Senate confirms their successor. Atwell said in his email that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos reminded him that he could remain in his position on the regents.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has yet to announce Atwell's successor. Evers' spokesperson, Britt Cudaback, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday. Neither did UW system spokesperson Mark Pitsch.
Atwell said he hoped that his “temporary continuation” as regent will support communication between legislators and the regents.
He also complained in the email that the UW system's financial reporting is weak and took issue with UW studies that conclude that system graduates earn more because they attended a UW school are “shallow, inaccurate and highly insulting to parents, the students themselves and to the community institutions who also help form young people.”
He also complained that no one has ever answered his questions about how many faculty and staff quit or were fired because they defied the system's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Atwell is one of two Walker-appointed regents who remain on the board. The other is Cris Peterson. Her term expires in May 2025.
FILE - Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers speaks before President Joe Biden delivers remarks on his "Investing in America agenda" at Gateway Technical College, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Sturtevant, Wis. Robert Atwell, a conservative University of Wisconsin regent says he won’t step down when his term ends this month. Evers has yet to announce Atwell's successor. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the influential War Cabinet tasked with steering the war in Gaza, Israeli officials said Monday, a move that comes days after a key member of the body bolted the government over frustrations surrounding the Israeli leader's handling of the war.
The move was widely expected following the departure of Benny Gantz, a centrist former military chief, earlier this month. Gantz's absence from the government makes Netanyahu more dependent on his ultranationalist allies to govern and the dissolution of the War Cabinet underlines that shift as the eight-month-long war in Gaza drags on.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the change with the media, said that going forward Netanyahu would hold smaller forums with some of his government members for sensitive issues surrounding the war. That includes his security Cabinet, where far-right governing partners who oppose cease-fire deals and have voiced support for reoccupying Gaza, are members.
The War Cabinet was formed in the early days of the war, when Gantz, then an opposition party leader and Netanyahu rival, joined the coalition in a show of unity following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel. He had demanded that a small decision-making body steer the war, in a bid to sideline far-right members of Netanyahu’s government.
It was made up of three members — Gantz, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant — and together they made important decisions throughout the course of the war.
The move to scrap the War Cabinet comes as Israel faces more pivotal decisions.
Israel and Hamas are weighing the latest proposal for a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages taken by Hamas during its attack. Israeli troops are still bogged down in the Gaza Strip, fighting in the southern city of Rafah and against pockets of Hamas resurgence elsewhere. And violence continues unabated between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group — with a Biden administration envoy in the region in a bid to avert a wider war on a second front.
Netanyahu has played a balancing act throughout the war between pressures from Israel's top ally, the U.S., and the growing global opposition to the war and from his government partners, chief among them Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Both have threatened to topple the government should Israel move ahead on a cease-fire deal. The latest proposal being considered is part of the Biden administration's most concentrated push to help wind down the war. For now, progress on a deal appears to remain elusive.
Critics say Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making has been influenced by the ultranationalists in his government and by his desire to remain in power. Netanyahu denies the accusations and says he has the country’s best interests in mind.
Gantz's departure, while not posing a direct threat to Netanyahu's rule, rocked Israeli politics at a sensitive time. The popular former military chief was seen as a statesman who boosted Israel’s credibility with its international partners at a time when Israel finds itself at its most isolated. Gantz is now an opposition party leader in parliament.
Netanyahu's government is Israel's most religious and nationalist ever. In Israel's fractious parliamentary system, Netanyahu relies on a group of small parties to help keep his government afloat and without the support of Gantz's party, Netanyahu is expected to be more beholden to the far-right allies.
FILE - From left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz speak during a news conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel on Oct. 28, 2023. Israeli officials said Monday, June 17, 2024, that Netanyahu has dissolved the influential War Cabinet that was tasked with steering the war in Gaza. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
