Last week, Gov. Scott Walker’s fellow Republicans fired him from his position as chairman of the board of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), his troubled job-creation agency. Walker’s spokeswoman said that he wanted to resign, and had even wanted all of the elected officials to be kicked off the board, but the hard, cold fact of the matter is that if he’d been chair of a private company with such a failed track record, he’d have been fired a long time ago.
Walker’s firing makes sense. He has absolutely no background or experience working in the area of economic development, has no interest in actually governing Wisconsin anymore as he seeks the White House and it surely means that he wants to distance himself from additional scandals at WEDC that haven’t been revealed yet.
Overall, though, the problem with WEDC is that it has become a political entity that makes investment decisions with taxpayer money that are heavily influenced by political connections and contributions, rather than economic merit. The former Department of Commerce wasn’t broken, yet Walker abolished it to create WEDC, a public-private partnership. The recent news of the $500,000 unsecured loan granted to a top-dollar Walker donor is just the tip of the iceberg. A 2014 Citizen Action of Wisconsin study found that 86% of jobs WEDC “impacted” went to Republican Assembly districts and a One Wisconsin Now analysis showed that almost 60% of WEDC funds went to companies connected to Walker and Republican Governors Association donors.
While Walker seems to be bearing the brunt of WEDC’s failure, the real victim in all of this is the unemployed Wisconsinite who should be finding a job with a company that’s benefited from WEDC’s support. But, of course, Walker won’t acknowledge that Wisconsin’s struggling economy is a result of his failed economic policies. We call on the state Legislature to dismantle WEDC and replace it with an economic development agency that’s more concerned with helping Wisconsin businesses that will actually create jobs for Wisconsin’s workers, rather than just support the governor’s political ambitions.
Image by Gateway Technical College via Flickr and a CC license
Upcoming Event
Female entrepreneurs should check out the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation’s (WWBIC) Strong Women Strong Coffee event on June 10. The morning networking event at Schlitz Park Auditorium (1555 N. RiverCenter Drive) offers businesswomen a chance to meet new connections and learn more about growing a business. Pre-registration is required. For details, go to wwbic.com or call 414-263-5450.
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