There are those times when small-government conservatives, Democrats, and libertarians agree. Acknowledging the misconduct, failures, and cronyism of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation would be one of those occasions. It is, among other things, the state’s biggest white-collar welfare scheme, both mismanaged and mendacious. Here’s the effectual motto of the WEDC: Corruption, Cronyism, and Incompetence…
State Government
Elections, Politics, State Government
Low Comedy in 3, 2, 1…
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Democrats have three choices for the 15th District Senate Primary: Evansville’s Assembly Rep. Janis Ringhand, Janesville-native Austin Scieszinski, or former Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan. One sometimes encounters a politician who simply refuses to remain a former politician, and when one encounters such a person, that discovery probably sounds like Mike Sheridan. (He’s reportedly walking about,…
Federal Government, Freedom of Speech, Liberty, Local Government, New Media, Open Government, Politics, State Government, Writing
Steps for Blogging on a Policy or Proposal
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
For bloggers who cover politics, policy-making, etc., just as would have been true of essayists and pamphleteers in an earlier time, it helps to have a method to one’s writing. In the paragraphs below, I’ll list steps one should take when approaching a topic. The steps are in a rough order, but in any method,…
Economy, Federal Government, Gluttony, Government Spending, Local Government, State Government, Taxes/Taxation, Walworth County, Wisconsin
The Crazy-Wrong Argument on Taxes
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A succinct truth: money doesn’t grow on trees. Local government funds municipal projects in one of three principal ways: through local taxes & fees, local borrowing (debt in the form of bonds), or public money from other jurisdictions (grants from the state or federal government). These grants of state or federal public money are, themselves,…
Corporate Welfare, Government Spending, Local Government, Official Misconduct, State Government, University
The Disgrace that is the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Sometimes one would prefer to be wrong, rather than right. The waste, errors, exaggerations, and lies of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation are such a case: Madison — Three Senate Democrats asked Wednesday [6.12] for a criminal investigation of Gov. Scott Walker’s signature job creation agency. The request comes after an audit last month found…
Business, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending, State Government, Taxes/Taxation
Corporate Welfare in America’s Dairyland (Yet Again)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The practice of thriving, multi-million-dollar companies taking ordinary taxpayers’ money to subsidize their private ventures has two aspects: (1) it’s wrong, as it takes from those with little and gives to those with much and (2) it’s sadly commonplace. Consider the case of Husco International, a private company in Wisconsin with an expectation of “more…
City, Gov. Walker, Local Government, Politics, State Government, Wisconsin
The Failure of Inside-Out (Thanks in Part to Governor Walker)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
It’s never been sensible to believe that the center of civilization is 312 W. Whitewater Street, with people and events beyond shrinking markedly in significance as one gets farther from that supposed center. Under that theory, by the time one reaches Palmyra, one might as well be in the unexplored Amazon. Exaggerating the significance of…
CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending, Press Release, State Government
Press Release Tips for the WEDC
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Let’s assume you’re a troubled, controversial public-private hybrid agency in Wisconsin, like the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. While spending vast sums of public money, you decide to issue a press release announcing taxpayers’ your largesse. You must know – and hope residents of a small city don’t know — that you’re politically toxic, across the…
CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Law, Official Misconduct, Open Government, State Government, Taxes/Taxation, Wisconsin
The Truth about the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A person should be able to make simple distinctions, as between the sensible and foolish, or practical and impractical. Sometimes those distinctions should be clear, and as stark as the difference between the contents of a sample cup and a glass of Chardonnay. You’ll hear a lot locally over the next few days about a…
City, Corporate Welfare, Federal Government, Government Spending, State Government
The Innovation Express Generac Bus: ‘Public Transit Is Not Expected to Make Money’
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
The ‘Innovation Express’ – even less efficient, more costly, and more unjustified as crony capitalism than anyone might have thought! There are two stories at the Janesville Gazette that do their damnedest to justify federal, state, and local subsidies ($83,005) for a bus that benefits principally a few workers from multi-billion-dollar Generac, but even cheerleading…
Government Spending, Planning, State Government
Update on the Spectrum Brands State-backed Deal
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
I wrote earlier about the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s millions for Spectrum Brands (Rayovac, among other brands). The professed purpose was to keep the company in Wisconsin. As it turned out, they took they money, as part of a relocation to Middleton, Wisconsin. There’s scant credible evidence that they truly were prepared to leave. A…
Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, State Government
The Spectrum Brands State-backed Deal: Either Shameful Negligence or Shameful Dishonesty
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Consider how profligate the State of Wisconsin is with public money. Millions spent on a business relocation for a corporation that (1) withheld its identity, (2) was already in Wisconsin, (3) used flimsy worries about protests at the Capitol as way to curry favor with the Walker Administration, (4) where the head of the Wisconsin…