Posted on 05/24/2015 11:46:40 AM PDT by Laissez-faire capitalist
During the 2010 campaign for governor, Scott Walker promised to create 250,000 jobs in his first term.
Toward this end, one of his first acts as governor was to privatize the state's economic development agency. Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) opened its doors in July 2011. After a series of damning audits, which highlighted mismanagement and incompetence, and news reports of special treatment for Walker donors, on Monday Democratic state lawmakers called for a federal investigation of the scandal-plagued entity.
Walker is the Chairman of the Board
When walker created WEDC in 2011, he named himself Chairman of the Board.
Although it was a privatized agency, WEDC was in charge of a staggering amount of taxpayer dollars: $519 million in bonds, loans, grants and tax credits in 2011-2012 alone; and the WEDC board is ultimately responsible for those dollars. While experts debate the role state government plays in job creation, one set of jobs Walker can more precisely lay claim to are those created by the economic development corporation board he governs.
In 2012, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel broke the story that WEDC had lost track of $12 million in loans because it never asked businesses to pay them back. ...
A damning 2013 audit by Wisconsin's professional, nonpartisan, state audit bureau made headlines when it documented dozens of ways in which the new agency was breaking the law. ...
WEDC promised to clean up its act and reported to the legislature and the state audit bureau in October 2013 it had addressed all the concerns raised in the May 2013 audit.
But a new May 2015 state audit [link at URL] shows the situation is even worse.
WEDC Can't Account For Jobs Created and Isn't Even Trying
...
(Excerpt) Read more at prwatch.org ...
so then, what do you think about this article from your messenger?
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/09/12600/7-ridiculous-arguments-ted-cruz-made-against-democracy-all-amendment
Well, I don’t mind telling you that Walker comes off as a Mr. Rogers with shifty eyes to me. To think of him across the table from Putin is every bit as scary as Obama’s unpresidential persona. He brags about his accomplishments in Wisconsin without ever giving his legislators the credit they deserve. To hear Walker’s fans talk you wouldn’t know that the bulk of the work is done by his Republican legislative body. I doubt he would get much done with an adversarial majority.
Now it looks like some of his initiatives have some very questionable outcomes with political cronies being rewarded with huge taxpayer handouts that did not produce the promised jobs, or practically any jobs in most cases. I guess those vaunted campaigns of his were a lot easier to win when they being bank rolled with taxpayer cash, and he can’t pass the buck since he was the Chairman of the Board overseeing this initiative.
Sorry to have responded to your post so late but we’ve been out since early afternoon. I enjoyed and appreciated your comments.
When has Walker not acted as a conservative?
How about when he bypassed his legislature and implemented Obamacare?
What about when he banned guns from State buildings in violation of State law?
How about letting the prolife bills already passed sit on his desk for weeks, sometimes months before signing them?
How about never once standing up for traditional marriage and legalizing gay marriages going back to last June?
He only recently got on board with limiting Common Core. The headlines that said he banned Common Core do not reflect the reality of the legislation and are very different from the Education Bills he has passed before the national polls showed that the folks don’t want it.
How about the fact that he came out and said there would be no Religious Liberty Bills passed in the state of Wisconsin?
As for Amnesty, he has been all over the board, but on more than one occasion he has advocated a $100 fine and a path to citizenship. I can’t trust someone who steps on to the national stage and does not have a firm positon when it comes to the issue of illegal immigration, one of the biggest issues we have today.
The reason that an Amendment is being sought is because the Constitution does not currently support the positions in the Democracy for All effort, as has been demonstrated by several Supreme Court decisions. Cruz respects the Constitution. You can bet that the groups promoting this have figured out the ways to work this to their advantage politically.
You’ll notice that you only see snippets of Cruz’s comments, not even full sentences, used throughout this article. I would rather hear Cruz’s position in its entirety rather than by out of context and incomplete characterizations.
If you’re interested, do a google search like I did. I already told you that Watchdog.org was one source. They are considered extremely reliable and factual as a conservative viewpoint.
I disagree. Walker will have to answer for this.
The problem with Scott Walker is that all his people are Wisconsin amateurs who would get eaten alive in Washington, and government would be more dysfunctional than it is now.
For all of Walker’s tooting of his own horn and the blind adoration of his supporters, he is a lightweight that we don’t need dealing with the likes of Putin. We sure as heck don’t need to trust him with Amnesty.
Many governors “buy” good jobs with tax credits, in fact, they get in a bidding war over it. Ugly, wrong, but if you don’t play, your new jobs don’t pay. This is how many auto plants have been built.
No, the government should not be spending this money on this stuff, period.
Not surprising that you would be uninformed or spreading half-truths.
HALF-TRUTH #1:
Walker chose Obamacare over the Medicaid expansion as the lesser of two evils. He has already taken very innovative (and market-based) initiatives to get away from Obamacare. Walker and the legislature are creating their own alternative. Walker has spoken out against Obamacare at every turn.
LIE #1:
He banned open carry of firearms into state buildings.....it was part of the compromise to get concealed carry for all Wisconsin. They already revised and allow concealed carry inside certain areas of state buildings. I guess you would have preferred that Walker not get concealed carry for the everywhere else.
HALF-TRUTH #2:
Walker lets bills sit for specific events to sign and/or to allow public comment on the completed, compromised legislation. I guess you like Obama’s secret method better.
LIE #2:
Walker is openly against same-sex marriage. He simply said there is little that can be done since the courts have issued their ruling. Unless they can create a legislative fix, Walker can do little except break the law....which is what Obama loves to do. I guess Walker likes the rule of law over the rule of men.
LIE #3:
Walker inherited Common Core from his predecessor, but spoke out against it from Day One. Walker needed to reform Wisconsin’s education system first because it was in the back pocket of the unions and that was going to be an obstacle to defeating Common Core. The fix put in place gives local districts more control, providing they are showing success at educating students. Wow, local education control....how liberal of Walker!
LIE #4:
Walker said Wisconsin does not need a Religious Liberty Bill because it is already protected in their constitution and other legislation. Walker won the McCall Religious Liberty Award for his protection of religious liberty.
HALF-TRUTH #3:
Walker supported fines and a path to citizenship for illegals, providing they return to their home country and apply through the correct channels....getting to the back of the line. That is not amnesty and would be no weaker than any other proposal. It is far stronger than Cruz’s amendment to the Gang of 8 bill where he allowed work permits for illegals to stay here indefinitely, or Cruz’s support for Bush’s amnesty and immigration reform....but I know that Cruz is nearly as good on illegal immigration as Walker, so I don’t twist his past actions in the ways you try to do with Walker’s words.
I can do these same half-truths and lies about Cruz, if you want. But Walker supporters see no need to tear down Cruz to build-up Walker. For some reason, you think it is necessary.
Lastly, please show me first-term Senator Cruz’s record of ACTIONS (not speeches). Let’s compare actual accomplishments and how they stack up.
I went to watchdog.org and searched for WEDC. Here are the results; http://watchdog.org/?x=-1051&y=-210&s=WEDC As you can see the links all defend WEDC and Walker's role. They mainly are articles pointing out that liberal Dems are attacking Walker on WEDC and those attacks are baseless.
Probably your google results were not from watchdog.org but some liberal site like prwatch.org. If you can't post links then we cannot evaluate them, so either post the links or stop bashing Walker. I found your comments in this thread about Walker to be generally low quality. You appear to be nothing but a basher here.
Please post links about Walker, not innuendo. I will read any links you post and evaluate the content and the source and let you know what I think.
No but oddly enough this is what legislators do all the time when they try to uses tax payer money for non-public proposes.
Almost inevitably they line the pockets of their friends. Indeed even when it is for ‘public proposes’ they almost invariably line the pockets of their friends. To the extent they have the ability they always appoint their friends and allies to positions of authority and patronage. Back when the Federal Government was Constitutional this uses to be what was done with the post office(the only major peace time federal agency) Now that post office is comparatively tiny to the army of others.
Given how much of the economy Washington has taken over under the control of politicians its a wonder we get any new people in politics.
The truth is privatization has nothing to do with this, as they were doing the same thing with even more success while it was a “public agency” at least now the private company has a chance of going out of business and thus leaving the political stage.
Illinois’ ED is and always has been a boon to cronyists. These organizations shouldn’t exist. Now would be a good time to shut it down.
What percent of total spending does this organization count for? We’re naïve to believe that any governor in any state gets elected without cronyism. That’s the nature of politics.
Every state in the nation has them and many have film subsidies as well.
If you want to attract business, don’t give them a break, give everyone a break.
Go after Hillary not Walker……why him? Because they Cruz and Dems R afraid of him. He has proved himself while Cruz has not. I’ll take anyone but Hillary….so lets go after her and stop bashing each other. Let see who comes out on top in GOP. Bashing each other will not get support from other when who ever win needs it. So if the one U support can’t make it without bashing others in race UR done in my book. Make it on UR own not putting out trash on others…..remember what Reagan said do not bash Republican but Dems. Come on people let get this to win……stop this nonsense on each other.
Go after Hillary not Walker……why him? Because they Cruz and Dems R afraid of him. He has proved himself while Cruz has not. I’ll take anyone but Hillary….so lets go after her and stop bashing each other. Let see who comes out on top in GOP. Bashing each other will not get support from other when who ever win needs it. So if the one U support can’t make it without bashing others in race UR done in my book. Make it on UR own not putting out trash on others…..remember what Reagan said do not bash Republican but Dems. Come on people let get this to win……stop this nonsense on each other.
How can we break the crony capitalist hold? That’s the question. I think most FReepers get that special favors are a net harm. Yet favors are the mother’s milk of politics. Nobody pays a billion to become POTUS just because people agree with you. There’s always a quid pro quo and, as far as practical politics goes, it’s a must.
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