As further proof his efforts to create jobs in Wisconsin have failed, Republicans have voted to remove Gov. Scott Walker as chairman of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, the quasi-public “job creation” agency that came into being because of the efforts of Gov. Walker.
In an attempt to put more oversight on the state’s fledgling job-creation agency, Republican legislators voted to remove Gov. Scott Walker as chairman of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
Walker and his fellow Republicans in the Legislature in 2011 dissolved the state Commerce Department and created the economic development corporation in an attempt to make a more nimble agency. But WEDC has been plagued by lax oversight, including the disclosure this week that in September 2011 it gave an unsecured $500,000 loan to Building Committee Inc. of Milwaukee.
The company’s owner, William Minahan, had been taken to court on Nov. 1, 2010 for $15,700 in delinquent taxes — the same day that Minahan gave Walker’s campaign a $10,000 donation, according to campaign finance records.
In his state budget bill, Walker recommended removing himself and the four lawmakers who sit on the 15-member board.
On Thursday, Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee voted to remove Walker from the board, but not lawmakers. Most of the other board members are businesspeople, and one of them would serve as chairman under the new plan.
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