(The Center Square) – The office of Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. have not sent responsive records to The Center Square in the month and a half since the organization requested expense records for the WEDC and governor’s trade trip to Africa.

The offices and all Wisconsin agencies are required to respond “as soon as practicable and without delay” to public requests for information, such as The Center Square’s request to inform taxpayers how much was spent on the trip.

The Center Square requested the records from both the WEDC and Evers’ office on Aug. 6.

Receipts and records acquired by The Center Square showed that the WEDC and Evers spent at least $160,000 to send Evers, his wife and several staff members and security along with former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes and WEDC staff to Germany and France last year.

The WEDC took nearly seven months to produce the records from the trip while Evers’ office released just $16,500 in records on airfare and hotel nights while not identifying who stayed in the rooms on the 2025 trip, which ran from March 29-31 in Braunschweig, April 1-2 in Wlesbaden, April 3-5 in Dijon and April 6-8 in Berlin.

That trip included $69,000 for a chauffeur and limousine service, nearly $19,000 to AHP International for consulting and printed materials related to the trip and a nearly $3,200 group welcome dinner at Zucker restaurant in Braunschweig, Germany.

The 2026 trip included visits to both Ghana and South Africa, including visiting Niche Cocoa Industry Ltd., the largest cocoa processor in Ghana. The company operates its North American manufacturing facility in Franklin, Wisconsin.

Evers’ office and the WEDC did not respond to questions on how the European trip was paid for but the WEDC’s budget plan summary includes $900,000 for trade missions and foreign direct investment that it says includes trips planned to Japan, Canada, Mexico and Germany.

Evers' office and the WEDC recently announced a memorandum of understanding between the WEDC and Agence Économique Régionale of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France to promote closer economic and educational relations between the two organizations.