Friday, current vice president Brent Smith and Regent Michael Falbo, who has close ties to the Republican Party, each won nine votes for board president in three paper ballots during the regents’ second day of meetings on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus.
After the first ballot resulted in a tie, the board took a 10-minute recess, and regents chatted in small groups away from the table. Falbo and Regent Gerald Whitburn huddled together and spoke in animated whispers.
With the vote still deadlocked after three votes, Whitburn nominated a slate of Smith as president and Falbo as vice president. That slate unanimously passed in a voice vote, giving Smith the presidency.