While President of the Wisconsin Technical College System Richard Carpenter revealed Tuesday the identity of Gov. Jim Doyle's previously unnamed \friend,"" who investigators said sought to remove Nino Amato from the UW System Board of Regents and Wisconsin Technical Board, all parties involved said they want to move past the chain of heresy and investigations that started Sept. 2.
Incidents began when Regent President Toby Marcovich abruptly called a teleconference meeting where regents raised pay scale ranges for top UW officials.
However, not all regents and media attended or knew about the sparsely publicized meeting, and Amato expressed concerns about the nature of the meeting in subsequent meetings Sept. 5-6.
""I wasn't alone in expressing concerns about the lack of media [at the meeting] and encouraging system staff to really refer this to an open meeting with the regents,"" Amato said.
Amato was, however, the sole target of criticism by Department of Workforce Development Secretary Roberta Gassman, according to Carpenter, who said Carpenter sent Amato an e-mail outlining Gassman's concerns.
The Sept. 2 meeting spurred Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager's office to investigate the regents' action. Investigators learned of Gassman's and UW System President Katharine Lyall's alleged disapproval of Amato. Gassman, though, said in an e-mail to The Daily Cardinal she never sought Amato's removal.
""[The content of the e-mail from Carpenter to Amato] was another member of my board saying 'if this is going to damage the relationship between our two systems ... should we as a board consider different leadership',"" Carpenter said.
Carpenter said the e-mail he sent Amato was not threatening and media took its content out of context.
""Had I thought this [e-mail] was something that would become as public as it has, I would have written it in an entirely different way and would have put the background and the context,"" he said. ""I don't think the reader would have read it as threatening as it was.""
While Amato, Carpenter, Gassman and other regents said they want to put the incidents aside, Regent Vice President David Walsh said he thinks Amato continues drawing attention.
""Nino needs to stop making himself the issue,"" Walsh said.
