A proposed grant for a visitor center in the Green Bay area led to some political sniping from both parties.
Governor Evers made a trip to the Titletown District yesterday to announce his support for a proposal to provide a $2 million grant to the Greater Green Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau. Several Republican lawmakers fired back at Evers blaming him for not supporting some other local projects in the state budget.
A report from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau shows Evers initially proposed the money for the visitors center in his budget but Majority Republicans on the Legislature’s budget committee removed it. GOP lawmakers then set aside $25 million for a grant program.
The State Building Commission would’ve handed out the money to projects and the visitor center could’ve been one of them. Democratic Sen. Dave Hansen of Green Bay claimed it would’ve been a “slush fund.”
Evers vetoed that money and put it toward a new juvenile prison. That led some Republican lawmakers to argue that Evers vetoed a grant for the visitor center project, even though no money was specifically earmarked for that facility.
