Under Gov. Walker Those Who Give, Get: Hill Farms Edition

MADISON, Wis. — In the weeks before the November 4 election, the Walker administration attempted to quietly solicit bids to redevelop the Hills Farms state office complex in Madison.

One Hill Farms bidder, Madison-based developer Terrence Wall, who had previously expressed interest in purchasing the property and other state assets, donated $10,000, the maximum allowed by law, to Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign, including a lump sum of $9,975 mere days after the proposed sale was announced.

In response to media inquiries prior to the election, the Walker administration refused to release the names of the firms interested in bidding on the Hill Farms.

The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross on today’s delayed release of the identities of firms interested in bidding on the redevelopment of Hill Farms:

“Gov. Walker has time and again auctioned off state policy and state aid. Now even physical state assets are on the block for campaign donors.

“With Gov. Walker there in one simple rule — those who give, get. The Hill Farms development process is just the latest, brazen display of the intersection of campaign donations and favorable treatment from the Walker administration.

“Adding to the unseemliness of how business is done under this Governor is that his administration – with no justifiable public policy reason – withheld the names of the bidders on the Hill Farms project until after the election.

“It seems as though when career politician Scott Walker declared Wisconsin was open for business, he meant he’d be putting the state of Wisconsin up for sale in relentless pursuit for the campaign cash that fuels his ambitions.”