3 Finalists Interview To Lead New Ethics Commission

Wisconsin’s new ethics board held its first meeting Tuesday to interview three finalists hoping to lead the new agency.

The finalists include: Brian Bell, who spent three years as an ethics and elections specialist for the nonpartisan Government Accountability Board and is now a budget and policy analyst for the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, Laura Rose, who spent 15 years as a deputy director and attorney for the nonpartisan Wisconsin Legislative Council and Timothy Samuelson, an assistant attorney general for the Wisconsin Department of Justice for the past three years.

One of them will run the new Ethics Commission, which is one of the new agencies replacing the Government Accountability Board. The final call on any issues before the agency will fall to six commissioners picked by legislative leaders from both parties and the governor.

A new Elections Board will also replace the GAB. Its inaugural meeting is Thursday.