During a meeting with public media employees on November 4, Šulcs was singled out for criticism and questions about how he had managed to secure his position on the board.
"My feelings after the meeting were bad, I am more of a doer than a public person," Šulcs admitted, expressing that he sensed the mood of the public media employees was against him.
He called on the Public Electronic Media Council to hold a new competition for the post, in which he said he will not participate.
However, his departure was not without controversy after he appeared to suggest that his potential replacement has a longstanding connection to newly-named public media chairperson Baiba Zūzena.
"Unofficially, I have heard that the second candidate... is an old business partner of Baiba Zūzena, and there is probably a desire to work with a known person with whom she worked in other business projects," Šulcs said, without naming the person in question.
Latvian Radio reported that unofficial sources suggest he was referring to the executive director of the Association of Latvian Broadcasting Organizations, Ingemārs Vekteris.
Speaking to Latvian Radio's "Krustpunktā" (At the crossroads) show Tuesday lunchtime, Zūzena rejected any such claims and expressed her confusion about what Šulcs had said.
"I can only underline that the selection process was organized professionally, so it's difficult for me to comment on the implication that I somehow pushed the runner-up. People who know me know that it's not difficult for me to openly express my opinion. I expressed it this time as well. The board will approve it and I don't think it is necessary to comment on these insults at this time," said Zūzena.
Further action depends on the Council of Public Electronic Media (SEPLP), the public media watchdog. It must decide whether to nominate the second-placed candidate for the position of board member in matters of technology management to serve on the board, or whether to run a new competition for the unexpected vacancy.
SEPLP chairman Jānis Siksnis said that SEPLP will decide on the next course of action in the near future. The usual practice is to publish the candidate's name a week before the responsible council votes on the candidate's confirmation.
As previously reported by LSM, the names of those expected to comprise the new public media board were made public last week.
