The job creation agency founded by Governor Scott Walker has been routinely violating its own rules and state law, according to a damning report released Friday by Wisconsin’s non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau.
Walker set up the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation in 2011 in order to give taxpayer dollars to private corporations to help them create jobs for Wisconsin workers. But a new audit of more than 100 grants from the agency found that the WEDC failed to follow up on whether the companies were actually using the funds to create and retain jobs.
The group also gave loans and tax credits to companies that did not meet its requirements, and did not even attempt to fact-check claims by the companies about the number of jobs they created. Additionally, the agency forgave, wrote off or deferred more than $4 million in loan payments that the corporations were supposed to pay back to the state.
Critics of the Governor, including Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate, cited the new data as evidence of his “ineptitude…bordering on criminal negligence” and called for legislators to pass reforms.
Since its creation in 2011, the WEDC has been plagued by scandals. An audit in 2013 found the agency repeatedly failed to follow state laws regarding the use of public funds. And in 2014, two corporations that received millions taxpayer funds from the WEDC, Eaton and Plexus, outsourced jobs to Mexico and other foreign countries, and laid off hundreds of Wisconsin workers.
The new report comes as Governor Walker and the legislature struggle to come to agreement on how to address the state’s nearly$2 billion deficit, a problem greatly exacerbated by the corporate tax breaks passed in conjunction with the WEDC’s creation. As he seeks to slash about $300 million from the University of Wisconsin system, Governor Walker has asked for more than $47 million for the WEDC — despite the fact that the latest audit found the group to be sitting on a surplus much larger than what it needs to operate.
Original Article
Source: thinkprogress.org/
Author: ALICE OLLSTEIN
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