Gov. Mark Dayton's bonding proposal included $4.5 million for the new state park at Lake Vermilion but Dayton had little to do with putting it there.
When Dayton was a candidate, he said he would recuse himself from decisions about the northern Minnesota park because his family has a cabin on the lake.
Last summer, he said it was his "obligation to identity any place where I have a financial or other conflict of interest and make the disclosure and take the appropriate action."
His spokeswoman Katharine Tinucci said Monday that when the bonding proposal for the state park was discussed he removed himself from the conversation.
Officials from Minnesota Management and Budget and the Department of Natural Resources made the decision to fund the $4.5 million in borrowing, Dayton "left the room during the conversation," she said.
