Group with no training record (But GOP ties) may get $500,000 over 2 years
Madison — A $500,000 sportsmen's grant slipped into the state budget earlier this summer is set to go to a group with ties to Republican insiders that has praised GOP politicians and lobbied for legislation such as lowering regulations on iron mining and development in wetlands.
The United Sportsmen of Wisconsin Foundation Inc., a group formed in January with no record of its own in outdoors training, is the only applicant for the scantly noticed two-year grant to promote hunting, fishing and trapping in Wisconsin that is being reviewed Thursday by a special panel.
If the grant is approved, the state could end up paying it every two years to United Sportsmen, which has said in its application that it would use most of the money to pay its staff and consultants.
The carefully crafted grant requirements were unanimously voted into the state budget in May after just seven minutes of discussion by the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, which acted on a motion drafted by outgoing Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) and Rep. Dan LeMahieu (R-Cascade).
United Sportsmen has ties to several Suder allies, including his donors, lobbyists, a former lawmaker who worked on major concealed-carry legislation, and his former chief of staff.
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http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/sportsmens-grant-criticized-as-sweetheart-deal-for-group-b9982384z1-221015581.html
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