Wisconsin: WEDC board member also has a loan from WEDC

[Scuba]

http://www.bluecheddar.net/?p=32154

In 2008. the Department of Commerce gave Radspinner’s company Flugen a $250,000 Technology Venture Fund loan. Then in 2011 the government agency known as “Department of Commerce” became “WEDC” – an amalgam of public and private. Radspinner was appointed to the board in June of 2011.

Radspinner divulged information about his own company’s debt payments as he tried to explain why it is that companies might need to have 90 days to not make a payment to WEDC. (Companies that don’t make timely payments within 30 days of due dates are technically “delinquent”.)

...

WEDC still has no policy to handle delinquent debt two years into its tenure. That was revealed in a recent L.A.B. audit of WEDC.

When an agency loses 11% of its half billion dollar budget,
when it doesn’t track loans from July 2011 to October 2012,
when it only has 45% of the paperwork it’s supposed to have by law from July 11 – December 2012,
when it swaps out CEOs three times in 2 years,
when it has no concern for conflict of interest,
when there’s no oversight for minimum wages for workers as laid out in its own contracts and as required by statute,
when it is a jobs agency and the Legislative Audit Bureau can’t even verify how many jobs it made —

they are beyond audits. WEDC should be shut down.

and more on this topic ...

Outrage over WEDC failure grows

http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2013/05/outrage-over-wedc-failure-grows.html

Had no policies for making awards through some of its programs, including the Capital Catalyst, Minority Revolving Loan Fund Expansion, or the WEDC Partner Operations Assistance programs. As a result, it is unclear how WEDC was able to award funds through these programs.

Had no policies for analyzing the risk of default by issuing new loans to recipients that did not repay prior loans, leaving taxpayer dollars in jeopardy and betting on a company that likely is unable to create jobs. For example, a business awarded a $100,000 loan from the former Department of Commerce was delinquent on its loan payments from 2005 to 2008 and again in 2011, taking the company 14 years to repay the loan. WEDC ignored the company's repayment history and issued it a $200,000 loan in January 2012.

...

Allocated tax credits for economic development projects that occurred before the contracts were executed and in ways that violated state law or program policies. This included issuing a $250,000 contract through a Jobs Tax Credit program without requiring the company to create any jobs.

...

Provided grants to companies tasked with creating family supporting jobs, ignoring the fact that half of the employees at such a company earned less than 150% of minimum wage.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. It would be very interesting to look at the cronyism

behind those loans.

Political donations from officers of shady companies, possible kickbacks, that sort of thing--the kind of story we once had investigative journalists for.

[hue]

2. I hope the FBI & IRS are peeking into this!! (still believe Wanker should be in jail...)

[midnight]

3. That's right....