Friday, May 8, 2015

WEDC still a dirty, slushy mess

Gee, you mean all those troubles at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) haven't gone away? Apparently not, according to the Legislative Audit Bureau.
We examined WEDC’s administration of its grant and loan programs in FY 2013-14. Our file review found that WEDC’s contracts did not contain all statutorily required provisions. We assessed WEDC’s program administration based on the policies in effect when it decided to make awards and based on the policies in effect at contract execution. In both instances, we found that WEDC did not consistently comply with its policies. We also assessed WEDC’s management and oversight in FY 2013-14 of grant and loan contracts it had awarded in prior fiscal years. Our file review found that recipients contractually required to create or retain jobs were not contractually required to submit information, such as payroll records, showing that the jobs were actually created or retained.

For the loans it administers, WEDC collects loan repayments and pursues collection of delinquent loans. In 2014, the potentially uncollectible balance of loans with repayments 90 days or more past due decreased by $4.2 million largely because WEDC amended 13 loan contracts to defer loan repayments, wrote off 9 loans, and forgave 2 loans.

We examined WEDC’s administration of its tax credit programs in FY 2013-14. WEDC did not establish all statutorily required policies for these programs. WEDC did not consistently evaluate whether businesses met all eligibility requirements in its policies. We assessed WEDC’s program administration based on the statutes and policies in effect when it decided to make tax credit allocations and based on the statutes and policies in effect at contract execution. In both instances, we found that WEDC did not consistently comply with statutes and its policies. In addition, WEDC allocated tax credits for projects that began before contracts were executed.

We also assessed WEDC’s management and oversight in FY 2013-14 of tax credit contracts that it had awarded since it became fully operational in July 2011. Statutes require WEDC to annually verify information submitted by businesses on the extent to which contractually specified outcomes were achieved. Our file review found that recipients that were contractually required to create or retain jobs generally submitted lists of their employees and the wages of those employees to WEDC, which accepted this information as accurate. However, our file review found no documentation that WEDC attempted to verify the information before awarding tax credits.
Hey it's only the people's tax dollars, right?

You can read in greater detail how much of a mess WEDC still is at this link. This capped off an already-bad week for Scott Walker and the Wisconsin GOP, so Scotty went into full panic damage control mode, and backed off his plans to merge WEDC with the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA). The whole idea of merging those two agencies screamed "corruption" from the start, since the handouts for Walker contributors that are a WEDC trademark could now be combined with development plans and other initiatives that WHEDA takes part in. Add in the fact that Walker just appointed former M&I/BMO Harris Bank exec and Walker megadonor Mark Hogan as the Chair of the WHEDA Board, and perhaps these guys realized that the whole exercise was blowing up in their face, so they're backing off this merger scheme....for now.

The lackl of accountability, waste of taxpayer dollars and pay-to-play cronyism that continues at WEDC after 4 years makes the 2012 warning from this former Hoosier seem quite prescient.
Sure makes you wonder if IEDC and Ms. Boykin had another investment in mind- a nice payoff to their well-connected buddies at the Indiana Statehouse, and a good "job creator" headline in the unsuspecting media. Regardless of whether anything actually happened and if it crowded out more legitimate businesses from growing.

So when you see the deceptions and cronyism that have wracked IEDC, and then you know that WEDC has already been afflicted with sketchiness and budget deficits in its short existence, you have a right not to trust either Daniels or Walker's plans. Then combine with the fact that Wisconsin lost more jobs than any other state last month, and you can see where WEDC and Walker staffers might be itchy on the trigger finger when it comes to making for a good photo op that costs us all a helluva lot more in the end.

After all, when you're Scott Walker and want to be like Indiana, why wouldn't you make backroom deals like the corrupt corporatist Hoosier you idolize, Mitch Daniels?
And if anything, WEDC has been run even worse and has been more openly corrupt than IEDC ever was. Funny how things in Walker World tend to work out that way.

It's well past time for Wisconsin Democrats and media to call WEDC what it is, and what it was always intended to be: A slush fund for Scott Walker's campaign contributors to get a nice taxpayer-funded kickback on their "investment."

This tune is quite descriptive of how I frequently have felt over the last 15 years as corrupt, incompetent Republicans screw things up. I'm just tired of having to wait till things are FUBARed to have my side be listened to.




2 comments:

  1. The Jivers!

    Wisconsin highest elected official -- who will remain unnamed (a Tommy Thompson clone) -- continues Tommy's pattern of febrile,
    (ADJECTIVE, "Having or showing the symptoms of a fever: a febrile illness,")
    and feeble attempts at consolidation of power, not realizing he's missed the boat.

    America is not Russia or China (although WEDC is acting like a dysfuntional, mediocre, Midwest Nomanklatura http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomenklatura )

    And hey, it's no longer 1984, WEDC board! It's much too late for this stuff like the Murray/Swindall cat fight and media gossip about the Reed resignation which no doubt slowed down the board, not to mention the stench of corruption....

    Did the family manufacturing business CEO/ banking & insurance company board member Lisa M. even have a minute to work with banking-connected Corey H. on anything other than trying to make "the books" match up?

    And what does Swindall want? I'd be stymied, too, by his insistence that there is a scientifically proven need to focus WEDC and Mwercs on developing more frac sandmining and some kind of manufacturing.... and...dairy!
    http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=299549

    http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/20/la-times-covers-sand-land-ecological-hazards-frac-sand-mining-wisconsin

    ...and now it's already 30 months after this article was published and people are disgusted with it...
    (but it's FluGen that really is sort of scarey to me).

    Personally, I think you-know-who is in over his head and purposely tumbling head-over-heels in an effort to compel his friends (the bigpockets) to give the repugnant-cans a huge bail-out in Wisconsin in exchange for his acquiescence with the bigbucks brothers' greatest wish: i.e., that he announce his willingness to be the potus run for the the highest hand-out in the land...

    But, I don't think so, actually. I think it's already all over for him, and the pipeline/oilslime brothers really do not need him, any more, ever again.

    Here's a link to the testimony of Lisa M's dad, Bruno before a presidential commission in the 1980's -- advocating entrepreneurism and venture capital (channeled through small community banks):
    S. 99-75 REVIEW OF FINDINGS OF THE PRESIDENT'S …
    www.finance.senate.gov/library/hearings/download/?id=7d9ff7c4-987a...

    [You may need to Google "Bruno Mauer testimony"] and scroll to pp. 73-85 in the first link, document S-HRG.9975
    Mauer, Bruno J., Commission member ... testimony before the Committee on Finance. ... President's Commission on Industrial Competitiveness.
    and also: [PDF].LXHN
    bayhdolecentral.com/3_DIV_SCAN/3156_001_OCR_NEXT_2.pdf
    (This is the Bayh Dole report...by Mauer, et al.)

    It's economics!

    Thank you, Jake, for uncovering the specifics re: possible legal recourse based on true illegality of WEDC. You're good at deciphering that smokey stuff and finding the loose ethics and I loved that lufthase posted his support of your work -- on Daily Kos.






    S. 99-75 REVIEW OF FINDINGS OF THE PRESIDENT'S …
    www.finance.senate.gov/library/hearings/download/?id=7d9ff7c4-987a...

    Mauer, Bruno J., Commission member ... testimony before the Committee on Finance. ... President's Commission on Industrial Competitiveness. This
    [PDF].LXHN
    bayhdolecentral.com/3_DIV_SCAN/3156_001_OCR_NEXT_2.pdf

    ReplyDelete