WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and Sports
You may remember Gov. Walker’s embattled economic agency, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation or WEDC, for a blistering May 2013 audit by the Legislative Audit Bureau. The audit found an unaccountable, mismanaged jobs agency which repeatedly broke state law and lost track of millions of taxpayer dollars.
Walker’s WEDC is in the news again, this time for using taxpayer-funded loans to help ship Wisconsin jobs overseas. A 27 News investigation found that at least two multi-national companies who received millions of dollars in taxpayer loans from the WEDC later laid off Wisconsin workers and moved their job overseas. One company even received a second WEDC loan after outsourcing jobs.
Click here for the full investigative report on how WEDC helped ship jobs overseas.
Highlights of the Report:
- “In April of 2013, Eaton laid off 163 employees at its Cooper Power Systems plant in Pewaukee and announced it was moving those jobs to Mexico. Less than a year later, WEDC awarded Eaton Corp. with up to $1.36 million in additional tax credits for a proposed $54 million expansion at that same Pewaukee plant.”
- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke calls the WEDC practice "appalling."
"As Governor, I will insist that every WEDC award protects against the outsourcing of Wisconsin jobs and companies that don't live up to their end of the deal give back every tax dollar they received," said Burke in a statement released to 27 News.
- Wisconsin Business Group Leader Lori Compas says this practice places an unfair burden on companies who don’t outsource jobs stating, “This is a bait and switch. It just doesn’t seem fair.”
Citizen Action of Wisconsin discusses the latest WEDC scandal in their weekly podcast. Listen here.
Wisconsin is ready for a transparent jobs agency that lets taxpayers know how their loans are being used to create jobs. Wisconsin is ready for accountability. Wisconsin is ready for job creation. Wisconsin is ready for a new direction.
Hows Walker working out for Wisconsinites?? Truth be known, the recall election was most likely corrupt too!
Posted by: J Morel | 07/15/2014 at 10:33 PM