To the editor:
Democrats and citizens concerned for an open Wisconsin government, with funds being utilized as expected, have launched a probe into Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s job creation agency after the Wisconsin State Journal reported a troubled organization made a loan to one of Walker’s top donors five years ago. Who? Minahan’s Building Inc.
The Wisconsin Economic Development Association’s board said at a news conference that they were outraged by the findings. The report begs serious questions about whether the agency and Walker’s administration did an improper political favor for the donor.
Scott Walker, a wannabe potential presidential candidate, serves as WEDC’s chairman? That should soon change. Walker created WEDC as a private-public partnership to replace the state Commerce Department shortly after he began his first term as governor in 2011. State audits have revealed mismanagement and a failure to track past-due loans. The agency also has seen extensive turnover in its leadership ranks.
The WSJ reported Sunday that WEDC gave Minahan’s Building Committee Inc., a now-defunct Milwaukee construction company, an unsecured, taxpayer-funded $500,000 loan in 2011 to outfit bank and credit union buildings for more energy efficiency. The company created no jobs and hasn’t paid the loan back, the newspaper reported. WEDC sued the company last year and won a judgment against it. Minahan gave Walker’s gubernatorial campaign the maximum individual $10,000 donation on Election Day in 2010, the newspaper said. Umhh?
The WSJ reported that WEDC wasn’t able to locate the underwriting documents justifying the loan. On his 2011 loan application, Minahan checked “no” when asked if the company, or any of its officers, had been sued in the last five years even though online court records showed three lawsuits. A telephone number for Building Committee Inc. had been disconnected. Umhh?
Walker has based part of his presidential pitch on turning Wisconsin’s economy around. The latest numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show the state ranked 40th in private-sector job creation for the year ended last September. Most jobs created have been at minimum wage levels.
It’s time for Wisconsin to get back on the track of honesty, integrity and truly moving Wisconsin Forward in a progressive manner, not having the state being competitive to Mississippi and North Dakota. Governor Walker, get back to Wisconsin and be part of what you’ve been elected for, three times now. Work for the citizens of Wisconsin, catering to them, not the corporations with seemingly no accountability with their failed “welfare” programs.
Edward Johnson,
Belle Plaine
