Scott Walker removed as Chairman of the Board of WEDC
Walker created the WEDC (Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation) and made himself Chairman of the Board in 2011. Since that time, the WEDC has been accused of being more of an agency of corruption used to pay off campaign contributors than the agency of job creation and economic growth Walker promised it to be.
The scandals have been ongoing, with the most recent involving Walker's Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch strong arming the WEDC into giving an essentially no strings attached $500,000 loan (he initially pushed for a $4.3 million loan) to someone whose only qualification to receive the loan was that he had given Walker a $10,000 contribution on the day of the recall election. The $500,000 was never paid back and the WEDC has "lost the paperwork". Huebsch was moved out of the DOA to another position before the news of this latest scandal came out.
One explanation for Republicans siding with Democrats in removing Walker is that Walker needs to distance himself from the scandals he created and they are putting on a Friday before a three day weekend news dump to help him do that. Another explanation is that the Republican legislators who have followed his orders without question since 2011 are getting nervous about the corruption surrounding Walker and being tainted by it when running for their own reelections. Either way, Walker got fired from the flagship agency he created.
From the Cap Times report:
Both parties introduced omnibus motions aimed in part at putting more legislative oversight on the embattled Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. The proposals even shared some elements, including removing Walker as chairman of the WEDC board.
But while Democrats insisted that Walker was being "fired" — or that he should be — Republicans countered that Walker himself requested to be removed as a means of spurring productivity.
"I think he loves Wisconsin so much that he felt that if some of the members on the board feel like the group would be better off if he would not be the chair ... I'd say that's leadership on his part," said Joint Finance Committee co-chair Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Falls.
LINK to article in Cap Times
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Chris Christie tells MSM that the reason that 65% of New Jersians (sp?) don't want him for president is because they don't want to lose him as Governor, and now Walker "loves Wisconsin so much" that he is stepping down from the Economic Development gig?
