AngularJS ngIf prevents finding element

HTML

<script src="http://code.angularjs.org/1.2.7/angular.js"></script>
<column column="{title: 'Test'}"></column>

JavaScript

var myApp = angular.module('myApp', []);

myApp.directive('column', function () {
    return {
      template: '<div class="column"><div>{{ column.title }}</div><button ng-click="toggleEditing()">Toggle</button><form name="columnForm" role="form" ng-if="editing"><select></select></form></div>',
      restrict: 'E',
      scope: {
        column: '='
      },
      controller: ['$scope', '$element', '$timeout', function ($scope, $element, $timeout) {

        $scope.editing = false;
        $scope.toggleEditing = function () {
          $scope.editing = !$scope.editing;
          $timeout(function() {
              var select = $element.find('select');
              select.append('<option>Value 1</option>')
                    .append('<option>Value 2</option>')
                    .append('<option>Value 3</option>');
          });            
        };
      }]      
    };
  });