Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel has spent big on promotional products since January 2015. He’s spent about $83,000 in total on items like messenger bags, pistol cases, fortune cookies, candy and coins that use his campaign slogan, “Kicking [butt] every day.”
Many of the items were used as gifts to attendees at Department of Justice conferences, the Wisconsin Gazette reported.
Wisconsinites have criticized the attorney general’s allocation of state funds. While it’s obviously common practice for political figures and government agencies to spend big on promotional products, some believe that the sum Schimel has spent is problematic.
“Brad Schimel puts the ‘AG’ in ‘swag,’ One Wisconsin Now research director Joanna Beilman-Dulin told the Wisconsin Gazette. “Stress balls, coffee mugs, commemorative coins, candy, souvenir flashlights and fortune cookies don’t solve crimes. Yet our state’s top cop Brad Schimel is spending tens of thousands of dollars every year on those and other swag.”
The Wisconsin Gazette, citing the Associated Press, said it’s unclear whether the Wisconsin department of justice’s promotional spending is in line with other state agencies, however.
But, whether it is or not, the critics have still been vocal.
“This is about priorities,” Beilman-Dulin continued. “And Brad Schimel’s are grievously misplaced.”
