Posted on 07/25/2015 11:04:11 PM PDT by 1947Jenn
Apologies for posting from TPM. Discussion on a thread sent me looking for information on the Walker/WEDC situation as that was a new program he implemented from the start. While I generally do not like this source, the information appears rather cut and dried. Even if 1/2 of it is exaggerated, there is a lot to be concerned about.
[SNIP]"One of his first acts in January 2011 was to call an emergency session of the state legislature. One of the first pieces of legislation he signed as governor, Act 7, privatized the state’s department of commerce by turning it into a public-private hybrid called the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. WEDC’s board of directors was to be chaired by the governor himself to help him make the state more “business friendly” by doling out grants and tax incentives to businesses, helping Walker fulfill a campaign promise to add 250,000 new jobs to the state during his first term.
Four-and-a-half years later, however, Wisconsin continues to stagger. The state has seen some of the weakest job growth in the midwest, and Walker is hitting the trail with one of the weaker economic records in the ever-growing Republican field.
What happened?
From the start there were problems. Only one year in, journalists and watchdogs began uncovering evidence of mismanagement in WEDC.
After filing open records requests in 2012 to scrutinize the agency’s first year of operations, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel learned that WEDC had lost track of much of their initial $56 million loan portfolio. The agency was discovered to have understated, by about a third, the amount of money it had loaned out to companies who had fallen behind on repayments. And a pattern began to emerge: two loans totaling some $5 million had gone to two timber companies, Flambeau River Papers and Flambeau River Biofuels, both run by William “Butch” Johnson, a donor to Walker’s campaign. (At the time in 2012, Johnson said he planned on repaying taxpayers for the $2 million owed by the paper company and would personally vouch for $1 million of the outstanding loan to the biofuels company - neither happened.)" [SNIP]
To add to the problems, the new public/private agency didn't put into place personnel policies until over a year after it's inception. Then there is this:
"But months later in 2013, a legislative audit gave little reason to think much had changed and put the agency’s expenses into perspective. WEDC was found to have violated the laws it was required to follow in administering almost $350 million in bond assistance, $110 million in tax credits, $40 million in grants, and $20 million in loans.
“[WEDC] had no policies for determining how to handle delinquent loan amounts,” said the report’s authors. “We reviewed files for 64 awards that WEDC made in FY 2011-12 and found that WEDC made some awards to ineligible recipients, for ineligible projects, and for amounts that exceeded limits specified in its policies.”" [SNIP]
bookmark
good grief. why not mine Pravda for hit peices on scott walker? they have more credibility.
I googled around after posting. There are other WI papers with the same or similar details. The WEDC set up smells really bad.
Hit piece? Is it true or not, isn’t that more important? And TPM, why not? They are a step up from Daily Kos. Heck, National Inquirer has squeezed in some news around alien abduction stories.
Facts are facts, regardless of source.
Do not dismiss this just because it makes Walker look really bad.
A few weeks ago there was a story that Walker privately told a donor in regards to illegals he wasn't going "nativist". Walker hasn't refuted that story.
Maybe he's not ready for prime time.
No, I’m dismissing it because it’s from a shitty liberal publication.
One of best teachers said:
“Consider the source then dig deeper to find truth !
Is there a grain of truth? What has been misrepresented? How? Why?”
Welcome to FR.
Union member?
Uh huh.
But Talking Points Memo has not. It's kind of like Moonves CBS, except without the "credibility."
And this is a problem because why?
What is "some?" Why isn't "some" quantified? Because it's one? Two? If it made between 6 and 10 ineligible awards, that would be typical of most state governments, and well under the percentage of ineligible awards made by the Federal government.
Why are you citing a rabidly anti-conservative source, which does not cite any authoritative entity for its own sources of information, and which does not even specify the actual scale of so-called "corruption?"
The source may be questionable but material should be checked out. Trumps comment to Walker having problems was not just pulled out of thin air. Is this what he was taking about?
Freepers start your (search) engines!
There are also three concern trolls posting on this thread with sign-up dates from 2014/08, 2014/09, and 2014/12, claiming that the source of the information, which has a history of smearing and lying about conservatives "doesn't matter."
I wonder if the source of the information was Dan Rather and Mary Mapes if FReepers would be quite so credulous. After all, Dan Rather often reported "facts."
I find your lack of skepticism disturbing.
If Trump has something, he needs to provide the information and its sources with specificity. Then we'll go out and check The Donald's allegations. Otherwise it's just innuendo. Worthy of a lib/prog hack, but not a serious conservative candidate.
Yeah I am definitely becoming less and less of a fan of the man. And you are correct. I did the same. Other sources confirm.
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