After weaponizing the GAB as a partisan hit squad against Republicans, it looks like some of the same people have simply moved over to the Ethics Commission and weaponized it.

The offices of Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Sen. Steve Nass told WisPolitics.com they have been contacted by an attorney hired by the Ethics Commission to probe charges of “partisan influence” toward agency Administrator Brian Bell.

The Ethics Commission declined comment Tuesday, citing confidentiality laws regarding agency investigations. But the contacts come a little more than two weeks after Bell asked the commission to launch an investigation into his conduct to clear his name following Republican calls for his resignation.

They also come amid an escalation in the standoff between Fitzgerald and Mark Thomsen. The Elections Commission chair Tuesday called the Senate GOP leader a “bully” for refusing to hold a confirmation hearing for agency Administrator Mike Haas, who also has been called upon to resign.

Fitzgerald has instead indicated he plans to have the Senate vote later this month on the nominations of Bell and Haas, having previously predicted they would “never” win enough support in the GOP-controlled Senate to win confirmation.

Mike Mikalsen, an aide to Nass, R-Whitewater, charged Tuesday the probe launched by the Ethics Commission was an “abusive process.”

“It’s an attempt to try to intimidate the Senate from taking action on a confirmation vote,” Mikalsen said.

The key to this is in the last sentence in the excerpt.

Ethics Commission Administrator Brian Bell is requesting the commission launch an investigation into his conduct, saying the move would help set the record straight on allegations legislative leaders have made against him.

Meanwhile, the commission is also weighing holding its own public review of Bell’s performance should the Senate opt not to hold a confirmation hearing. But commissioners in the meantime decided to send a letter to Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald to request more information on whether the chamber will hold a hearing prior to the up or down vote that could take place in January.

Bell said today an Ethics Commission review into his conduct would “refute the baseless allegations that have been made against me.”

“I believe that an objective review of my conduct in service to the state would definitively show that I have consistently conducted myself in a nonpartisan and impartial manner,” he said.

As part of an investigation, the commission would have the power to subpoena records and call witness in to testify under oath, Chair David Halbrooks noted.

It should be obvious on its face why the Ethics Commissions should not investigate its own administrator. It would be like having a police officer investigate himself after shooting a citizen. It is clearly inappropriate. But the reason Bell is calling for it is because, “the commission would have the power to subpoena records and call witness in to testify under oath.” The members of this commission, several of whom were complicit or directly involved in the abuses of the GAB and the John Doe, are angling to continue their persecution of Wisconsin conservatives under their new commission.

No thanks.

This poses an interesting scenario.

Commissioners on each board are partisan appointees, split evenly between Republicans and Democrats.

The four commissioners who voted to allow donations said because they are appointed based on their partisan affiliations, they should be able to donate to candidates as state law permits.

But the two who wanted to ban donations argued allowing commissioners to contribute to the candidates they regulate could cause the public to lose confidence in government.