GREEN BAY — In a visit to Green Bay Monday, Governor Tony Evers pledged to support legislation to fund a new tourism effort for Green Bay.
The Governor backed legislation setting aside $2 million for a new Experience Greater Green Bay Visitor Center. The city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau has already raised about $4 million dollars for the project.
Governor Evers’ move drew criticism from some Assembly Republicans. Three lawmakers issued a statement in reaction to the governor’s visit, calling Gov. Evers’ pledge “disingenuous”. The legislators cited the Governor’s budget vetoes in their criticism:
“People expect their legislators to work with each other to support Brown County. It is disingenuous for legislators to say NO to increased funding for UWGB, NO to increase funding and fix Brown Co. roads, NO to increase money for public education, NO to make our community safer by replacing an outdated and dangerous prison, NO to help our overworked District Attorneys, and NO to promoting tourism for the area. Yet when it is politically expedient, they stand and clap for a proposal they voted NO on just two months ago! Leading from the front is recognizing ideas that will advance our communities, not waiting until an idea is in the rearview mirror.” – Representative John Macco (R-Ledgeview)
“What a goofy, sophomoric display today. After vetoing our year's worth of work on this project, Evers sneaks into town for an impromptu press conference to take credit for a project he removed from the budget just six weeks ago. While I'm glad we are getting this matter addressed, this type of petty political antic is better kept in high school class president races versus the office of the governor." – Representative David Steffen (R-Green Bay)
“To say I am unimpressed by Governor Evers’ showing up in Green Bay today to tout $2 million for a visitor’s center would be an understatement. If he wanted to support Green Bay and northeast Wisconsin, we gave him every opportunity. Today’s showing is an insincere bid for attention. He slashed our budget that funded northeast Wisconsin priorities, and in doing so, Governor Evers turned his back on our communities.” – Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R-Kaukauna)
Democratic State Senator Dave Hansen criticized the three lawmakers’ statement with a statement of his own:
“Rather than understanding they could all benefit from being seen by the public as working together with Governor Evers and Democrats to help our area, these Republicans chose to go along with their leaders in Madison to remove the visitors center and other projects in favor of creating their own special slush fund so they could deny Governor Evers any credit for his efforts.
Sadly, the result was one that could and should have been anticipated by anyone who understands legislative government and who truly cared about getting this funding in the first place. It is negligence on the part of every Republican legislator from our area who chose to go along with such a scheme instead of demanding that GOP leaders in Madison find some other way to play politics and keep their hands off of $2 million in funding for our area that was already included in Governor Evers’ budget.
Had they stood up for our area instead of going along with the politicians in Madison $2 million in funding would already be directed to the visitors center.
Their comments today only further to continue the partisan polarization that has not only resulted in lost funding for this needed project, but that still divides our state today and prevents us from moving our state forward on the issues the majority of people care about.”
