Back in 2007, when State Rep. Brett Davis voted for Doyle's special session state budget, it was widely surmised that he traded his vote for a $4 million state grant for his district. Davis was the lone state Republican to vote for the budget.
JG Excerpt:In 2007, even the Janesville Gazette editorialized an apology for the Republican legislator.
EVANSVILLE — A $4 million state grant designated to help build Wisconsin’s first soybean crushing facility in Evansville is now being doled out to other agricultural projects, and plans for the crush plant have been “mothballed.”
JG Editorial Excerpt: (Oct. 2007)We don't blame Davis for taking the bait? ... or his fellow republicans for not biting?? It was all Doyle's fault, he twisted arms. Davis said "uncle." Sure, everybody knows that it's the undercover cop posing as a prostitute that should be arrested when a john makes the date. Ha-ha.
Included was a $4 million soybean crusher in Republican Brett Davis' district, a seat Democrats would love to claim. Davis was the lone Republican to vote for Doyle's plan. We won't blame Davis for his vote, or his fellow Republicans for resisting Doyle's temptations.
As far as I'm concerned, the soybean study/Davis deal was not unlike the deal negotiated by Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson shortly before the Senate approved its health bill in December that would require the federal government to pay for Nebraska’s portion of expanding Medicaid under the bill. Nelson's deal, dubbed the "Corn Husker Kick-back," was denounced as horse-trading by Pa-kettle Republicans.
Regardless, there is no doubt this is how some legislators swap their support and sell their votes. Some call it "courageous," while others call it the cost of bipartisanship. I call it "selling out" no matter who does it.
What troubles me even more is why the state must "dole out" the $4 million even after the fact of a projected $5.75 billion state deficit. Is it because a deal is a deal?
Voters must remember this come election time.
Related reading: Davis Party Line Towing
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