Following his refusal to resign from the UW System Board of Regents for the past several weeks, Alfred De Simone has submitted his official resignation. De Simone refused to step down from the board earlier this month when Gov. Jim Doyle announced his replacement.
\I picked up the newspaper, and here the Associated Press had an article telling me I was through,"" De Simone said. ""I resented that method of telling me I was through. I let them know that I did not like it and that I was going to fight it.""
De Simone, who was unhappy with the manner in which Doyle notified him of the change, decided he would wait for an apology before officially stepping down.
""The governor ... was not aware that Mr. De Simone had a personal arrangement with the former governor to stay on for an additional year beyond his term,"" said Thad Nation, spokesperson for Doyle. ""[Doyle] said that had he been aware of that [arrangement], he would have made a personal phone call to [De Simone] ahead of time to discuss this matter with him, instead of just having announced it.""
De Simone said as of Tuesday the situation had been fully rectified.
""The governor, knowing that he did not treat me right on the discharge, was willing to make a public apology, and that I accepted,"" De Simone said. ""So we made the plans, and he came down to Kenosha and made a public apology. He apologized to me and the press, and that is all that I needed.""
De Simone said he did not avoid resigning in an attempt to stay on the Board of Regents for another term.
""I didn't want to cause a strife between the Board of Regents and the governor's staff. So I thought, 'I better get out of it peacefully so that I am not the reason if there is a deadlock,'"" De Simone said.
Erik Christianson, spokesperson for the UW System, said he was unable to comment on the matter, citing standard policy for the UW System not to comment on issues regarding the Regent appointment process.
