Gov. Tony Evers works to fill a pothole in Green Bay during his "Pothole Patrol" visit Tuesday afternoon. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Governor Tony Evers’ statewide “Pothole Patrol” tour paid a visit to Green Bay Tuesday afternoon.
Evers was working side-by-side with Kristina Boardman, the Deputy Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. The pair were shoveling asphalt, helping to fill potholes along 12th Avenue at Howard Street on the city’s west side.
It was last July when the governor signed his biennial budget which included $550 million to fund transportation projects underway or in development. According to Evers:
We got about, over 7,400 miles of roads done and in the neighborhood of 1,700 bridges that we’ve fixed. A lot of good work already. We had a pretty good budget last time. And the mayor played a huge role in this, in getting more shared revenue. A 20% increase, but also we’ve increased the local road funds by a $100 million so that was good work, good bi-partisan work.
While the governor has bi-partisan support for his commitment to infrastructure and transportation across the state, he continues to hit roadblocks with the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee.
The governor is calling on the committee to release $125 million in what he calls critical investments to combat PFAS contamination across the state.
“That money can be released, it should have been released. People all across the state are concerned about PFAS — or areas, obviously Marinette and La Crosse and other parts of the state. It’s a huge thing. People in La Crosse, they’ve been drinking Culligan water for now five or six years. We need to get that money out the door. They can do it. All they have to do is vote yes,” said Evers.
Instead of taking up the issue of PFAS funding, the Joint Finance Committee spent its session on Tuesday approving an audit of state sponsored discrimination through DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) initiatives in the executive branch and the University of Wisconsin-System.
“We must ensure state agencies and the UW System are efficiently utilizing taxpayer resources without regard for immutable characteristics,” read a statement from State Senator Eric Wimberger of Green Bay.
He added, “This proposed audit has very clear goals of delving into the administration’s DEI initiatives—What did the agency do? How much did it cost? And what did it achieve?”
Evers condemned the move, saying, “The Republicans are doing everything they can to frankly destroy the legislative audit bureau. I’ve been in state government for many years now and the audit bureau used to do a great job, it worked with the agencies and not anymore. This is all about weaponizing. So, do I think this is a bad idea? Absolutely.”
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