Tuesday, June 3, 2014

WEDC - Still Failing After All These Years!

By Jeff Simpson

Everyone remembers that the key promise in Scott Walker's campaign was - JOBS!


One of the key cogs to this promise was ending the publicly accountable Commerce Department for Wisconsin Economic Development Committee.  A private - Government crony partnership that was going to help him create jobs.   

They both failed miserably!

We have written about the failings of WEDC extensively, here at CogDis, but thanks to our friends at One Wisconsin Now, we find out even more.

The Key Takeway:   Sixty percent of WEDC money (about $600 million of $1 billion given out) has gone to Walker/RGA donors.




Just to be clear, that is $1,000,000,000 of Wisconsin taxpayer money that is being funneled back to Scott Walker's donors, with no expectation of results!  

That is the kind of fiscal conservatism we have had for four years, it is time for something better!  



19 comments:

  1. Thanks Jeff. Big tip of the cap to OWN for terrific work, detailed but accessible.

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  2. And here's Scotty today, making a taxpayer-funded trip to major donor (and tax credit recipient) ULine to make a "future expansion" announcement. No back-scratching here, NOOOOOO!!

    How can our media just stand by and let this theft of taxpayer dollars happen without saying a word. Oh wait, I know this answer...

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    Replies
    1. Nothing like kickbacks to campaign donors to turn Wisconsin into the new Illinois!

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    2. I thought the Tea Party wanted to clean up corruption. Or is that not true like everything the Tea Party claims?

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    3. journal communications hack james rowan claims the reason the press won't tell the truth is that everyone is just "too polite" to ask for it!

      Believe-it-or-not, and he claims to be a big liberal/progressive blogger -- of course, he works for journal communications too...

      I don't know who is the biggest propaganda shill, the folks that tell the lies in the media or the folks that endlessly provide them cover.

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    4. How do ya think scooter raises $1 mil+ for his legal defense fund?

      We all know this -- if the total fees fer lawyer'in up and "cooperating" (NOT!) were public record -- it would greatly exceed 1 million by now.

      And this is before the indictments.

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    5. Anonymous at 5:09 PM,

      I think you are full of fly-infested cow droppings. James Rowen is a bright shining light in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. You Tea Party creeps are trying to create fear, uncertainty and doubt among progressives toward a real progressive at the Journal Sentinel.

      Allow me this opportunity to post a link and excerpts from a James Rowen column that trashes one of Wisconsin’s stinkiest scum buckets, Charlie Sykes.

      http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/purple-wisconsin/239110891.html
      On air, Sykes says mocking is 'what I do.'

      Sykes allowed on the air a female caller from Madison (beginning at about the 4:40 mark on this podcast) who, despite her conservative politics, objected to his mocking attitude towards an item I'd posted at this blog on Purple Wisconsin (a version is also on my personal blog) about climate change.

      When Sykes tried to box her in by suggesting she was "darn happy" with the fossil fuel heat keeping her warm in "The People's Republic of Madison," the caller said she was a "green conservative" who'd converted her home to thermal heat (geothermal heat, from beneath the earth) 13 years ago.

      D'oh!

      Besides being petard-hoisted by his failed supposition, Sykes was also undone by his years of studio and political isolation from what he ideologically misconstrues as "the People's Republic of Madison."

      When the caller again said Sykes was playing the "mocking game" towards climate science, he chuckled and said "that's what I do, I'm sorry."

      So, now we know.

      For WTMJ's lead talk radio host, even conservative callers with open minds about climate science are mockable.

      So is science-based, sourced writing.

      In an email to me, Sykes said he had not misrepresenting my "weak-ass argument."

      They say he works for Journal Broadcast Group, but it's getting narrower and narrower.

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  3. Glad to see the spotlight put on WEDC again. It's important to view WEDC as the key component to SKW's jobs plan and their dismal failure.
    When Rebecca Kleefisch announces behind closed doors “We want to know how we can love you more,” she's not talking about jobs.
    If by chance any actual jobs do show up for the taxpayer dollars being spent, it would be of interest to taxpayers just what jobs cost. I imagine the cost per job would be very high, telling taxpayers that using public tax money for job creation has always been a bad idea.

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    Replies
    1. peblic doesn't care --they've been so dumbed down in our public schools.

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    2. Imagine how much more we can dumb down the citizens if we send them to parochial schools!

      Now Vouchers make perfect sense!

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    3. Can't really do more to dumb the population down then public schools like in Milwaukee that have ZERO middle & high schoolers reading at grage level.

      But it isn't just milwaukee -- check around the state -- especially the western districts.

      Let me turn your arguments around -- while its common to hear people complain that there is no proof that charters do better -- THERE IS NO PROOF PUBLIC SCHOOLS DO BETTER.

      And they have had many generations of students over many years -- just doesn't work.

      Folks like you like to complain about how ignorant the public is -- VIRTUALLY ALL OF WHOM WENT TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS!

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    4. Anonymous at 6:07 PM,

      Few could top you for dumb hypocritical arguments. You have three misspellings.

      Your generalizations don’t hold water. There are Milwaukee public school students who read at grade level. Plus public school students do score higher on tests than voucher school students.
      http://host.madison.com/news/local/education/blog/dpi-wisconsin-voucher-schools-show-lower-test-scores-compared-to/article_df494180-cd29-538a-80be-a923cded39aa.html

      You must be Tea Party. You need an ill-informed citizenry to vote Republican. That is why Republicans have a war on against public schools.

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    5. Umm, that's a couple of voucher schools that scored 0% proficiency in Milwaukee, not the publics, kiddo. Go check the records.

      WEDC really does show the Walker economic plan as a total fraud. It's all about throwing taxpayer dollars and tax cuts at campaign contributors, with NO real addition of jobs in the process that wouldn't have been added anyway.

      And yes, the Journal-Sentinel actively papers over this fraud, because they depend on WEDC and Walker ad dollars


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  4. Page 9 of the One Wisconsin report made me wince.

    Highly profitable businesses that contributed to Walker received taxpayer money from WEDC. Why do Sargento, Johnsonville Sausage, MillerCoors, Kohler, Country Materials, Kwik Trip, Bradley Corp, and Rober Baird have to rely on taxpayers to run their businesses? It's not like these companies are going to leave Wisconsin. Sargento needs Wisconsin cows for its cheese. County Materials needs to make concrete near where it is used. Kohler has deep Wisconsin roots. Kwik Trip has to build c-stores in Wisconsin to make money in Wisconsin.

    This is corruption, plain and simple. And a waste of taxpayer money.

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  5. I highly recommend reading the whole the OWN article. It could be criticized in that rather than an objective evaluation they went in looking for dirt. To their credit they achieved their goal they found a lot of it, Of course there is always more.
    Jake asked. "How can our media just stand by and let this theft of taxpayer dollars happen without saying a word." The same reason other prostitutes do what they do: for the money. The media didn't seem to mind the United Sportsmen's attempt to steal a half million so why not think big and take over a half billion?
    Touch of irony that this debacle is the replacement for the Commerce Dept. Campaign add material?
    If anyone complains that you signed a recall petition tell them that it is only half the story as you are a Walker campaign contributor, you pay your taxes.

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  6. Scott Walker spent a billion dollars of public funds for pay to play to raise $1 million campaign contributions??? That is a lousy .1% return on investment. Given his extensive experience of swindling the public, you think he could pull off a better return on a bait and switch.

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    Replies
    1. Wisconsin Republican politicians such as Scott Walker, Scott Fitzgerald, Robin Vos, Scott Suder, Alberta Darling and Jim Steineke are not only easily bought, they are also cheap to buy.

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    2. How could I forget Joel Kleefisch? A shot and a beer is enough to buy him.

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  7. Was that the fishy story he told at the state of the state or was it this one he didn't tell?

    https://sites.google.com/site/teapartygovernorplayinggames/wiplate#fish

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