The people of Wisconsin deserve better. While Gov. Walker and the GOP focus on things like attacking public employees, electronic insurance bills, changes to Food Stamps, residency rules, crane game deregulation and rent-to-own agreements, Wisconsin is slipping further and further behind the rest of the nation in terms of job creation.

Despite a blistering audit by the Legislative Audit Bureau which found an unaccountable, mismanaged jobs agency which repeatedly broke state law and lost track of millions of taxpayer dollars, Gov. Walker and the Wisconsin GOP are acting like nothing is amiss with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation or WEDC.
Creating the jobs agency was one of the first acts of Gov. Walker and the Republican controlled legislature in 2011. WEDC was created by privatizing part of the Department of Commerce. The WEDC scandal and failure reflects directly on Gov. Walker and his administration.
Here are some highlights from the audit
• WEDC “did not have sufficient policies to administer its grant, loan and tax credit program effectively, including some statutorily required programs”
• In its first year of operation “WEDC did not monitor the amounts spent on each of its programs inpart because it was unfamiliar with its accounting system and did not establish accounting policies and procedures”
• WEDC did not follow up with organizations to see if jobs were created
• WEDC did not require financial statements from organizations who received taxpayer assistance
• WEDC gave awards to ineligible projects and businesses
• WEDC awarded nearly $1 million to multiple businesses for job creation and employee-training before they had signed their contracts with the state
• Previously, the Department of Commerce had two employees making over $100,000 a year. WEDC has eight.
• Seventeen of WEDC’s 90 employees received “merit awards” totally $59,500
• Four staffers were paid $23,000 for moving expenses
• 5 WEDC employees were given gift cards totally $425
• 40 gifts from businesses and corporations were given to WEDC employees totally $55,000
• Staff used agency credit cards to buy Badger Football season tickets, alcohol, and iTune gift cards
Read our previous post on WEDC here. View local media cover in the Dunn County News, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and the Tomah Journal.