Madison… This morning, Governor Evers signed an executive order creating the Office of Violence Prevention using federal monies meant for COVID-19 response. Senator Cory Tomczyk (R-Mosinee) released the following statement regarding Governor Evers announcement:
“Yesterday, we saw the Governor play politics once again. In these tragic times, the Governor uses false statistics from partisan organizations that consistently donate to partisan candidates. I am mad as hell that taxpayer money meant for COVID relief will flow into partisan groups and turn into political donations. More Democrat money laundering.
His allocation of $10 million for the new Office of Violence Prevention is purely motivated by partisan gain. In 2024, the Governor was still sitting on top of nearly $300 million Federal COVID-19 funds. Money meant for COVID will be paying for the expansion of government instead of flowing to the people. The Governor has deliberately and knowingly withheld federal dollars from the people of Wisconsin and has ignored input from the State Legislature.
The Governor has sole discretion over his slush fund. He doles out money to whatever partisan group or cause sticks their hand out. I demand to know why we still have COVID money? Why was it not spent on the COVID response? And since it wasn’t spent on COVID response, why wasn’t it returned to the federal government? Where is the accountability for this money?
This money needs to be accounted for and not given to political allies who will donate to the Governor’s reelection campaign. This money rightfully belongs to the people of Wisconsin and not the Governor’s partisan allies and organizations.”
