5-10-17 democrats rip doj spending on seminar gifts

MADISON, Wis. (AP)     Democrats on the Legislature’s budget committee are ripping Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel for spending thousands of dollars on gifts for police who attend training seminars.  Liberal group One Wisconsin Now obtained documents through an open records request Tuesday that show the state Department of Justice has spent nearly $53,000 on such items as backpacks, golf towels, commemorative coins, notebooks, tumblers and bracelets between the 2013-14 fiscal year and the current fiscal year. Schimel’s administration is responsible for $37,675.   The Joint Finance Committee’s Democrats offered a motion Tuesday to cut DOJ funding by $54,000. They said that’s how much the agency has spent on the items, even though their figure is about $1,000 too high. They said Schimel could have used that money to test sexual assault kits.  Republicans on the committee killed the motion. Schimel spokesman Johnny Koremenos says the items were either supplies for training conferences or gifts for the attendees, many of whom paid to attend.