Scott Walker Faulted for Failures of Wisconsin State Agency
If senators who run for president are cursed with defending every vote they cast, governors must answer for their economic records.
As Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin edges closer to formalizing his White House bid, Democrats and Republicans who hope to derail it think they have found a potential Achilles’ heel in the misfortunes of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, which he helped create.
Critics from both parties have been suggesting that Mr. Walker’s mismanagement was responsible for the organization’s failure to create as many jobs as it was supposed to and for mishandling funds. A state audit released this month said the agency “did not have sufficient policies, including some that are statutorily required, to administer its programs effectively.”
Mr. Walker, who is chairman of the W.E.D.C., said last week that the agency, created to provide loans to local businesses, would be overhauled. Instead of offering nearly $20 million a year in loans, it would turn to tax incentives and require businesses to show they are making the most of the help.
Democrats are also seizing on a Wisconsin State Journal investigation that found that under Mr. Walker’s watch in 2011, the development agency lent $500,000 of taxpayer money to Building Committee Inc, which had failed to pay taxes the previous year. The company, whose owner was a donor to Mr. Walker, later went out of business.
MORE...
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/05/22/scott-walker-faulted-for-failures-of-wisconsin-state-agency/?rref=politics&module=Ribbon&version=context®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Politics&pgtype=article
= new reply since forum marked as read
