Madison – Today, State Senator Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) delivered a letter to Governor Scott Walker urging postponement of the awarding of a $500,000 grant to the United Sportsman of Wisconsin Foundation. The process of awarding this grant has raised questions about fairness and the appearance of political favoritism.
“The grant they have applied for is intended to encourage youths to become interested in hunting and fishing, but I have great concern about the opaque and apparently unfair process that was employed in the application for this grant,” said Carpenter.
“It is being reported that not only was this grant poorly noticed by the DNR, but that the field of applicants was unfairly limited. It appears that the grant was so narrowly written that well-established conservation and outdoors groups like Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, Pheasants Forever, and the National Wild Turkey Federation were not eligible to apply. It is troubling that the only group that did (or could) apply for this grant appears to have no history of doing the kind of training for which this grant money could be used,” said Carpenter.
“I believe that our state government needs to take great care when spending taxpayer money. Even the appearance of political favoritism in awarding of taxpayer grants should be avoided. I urge Governor Walker to consider postponing this grant and instead call for a transparent, open, and fair process for awarding taxpayer dollars for this grant,” said Carpenter.
The Sporting Heritage Committee is scheduled to meet on Thursday August 29th at 9am to decide whether or not to approve this grant.
A copy of Senator Carpenter’s letter to Governor Walker accompanies this release.
