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 the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. didn’t require financial statements from companies receiving incentives, gave awards to ineligible businesses and awarded nearly $1 million in tax credits to companies for actions taken before they had signed their contracts with the state. The agency didn’t adequately follow up to see if jobs were being created and didn’t clearly report the jobs numbers that it did have, the report by the non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau found.
For every official of Whitewater’s municipal government, Community Development Authority, or the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater who ever boasted of ties with the WEDC, here’s an inescapable truth: you’ve sought an alliance with a corrupt, dishonest agency, a crony-capitalist disgrace to all Wisconsin.
The price of self-promotion, flimsy claims, and wasted resources has been too high for our state’s people. Having ignored sound economics and others’ genuine & pressing needs, each and every official who’s sought advantage through the Wisconsin Economic Development Authority has a share in that selfish disaster.
The people of our small city, and our whole state, have always deserved better.
(For prior criticism of the WEDC at this website, please see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.)
Tomorrow: An update about Walworth County’s proposed purchase of so-called parkland.