After signing a budget that removed the governor from the board of WEDC, Gov. Scott Walker has turned over the chairmanship to Dan Ariens, chief executive officer of Brillion-based Ariens Corp.
Meeting with reporters before the WEDC gathering yesterday, Walker admitted the agency has had a few “hiccups” since replacing the Commerce Department, but that there have been improvements and changes made at the organization.
“What we’re most proud of is the hard work done by the frontline staff who are out there meeting with businesses and creating jobs in Wisconsin,” he said.
Walker expressed his support for the WEDC and didn’t expect questions about it to follow him on the presidential campaign trail.
“I want people on the board who are job creators, not politicians, which is why I suggested the governor no longer serve as chair,” he said. “The WEDC is putting new policies into place that create more transparency.”
Walker’s comments didn’t satisfy Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, who along with Sen. Julie Lassa, D-Stevens Point, called for serious changes to the WEDC in light of an audit in spring that pointed out the organization was not following required laws and policies.
Both are on the WEDC board of directors.
Barca also cited media reports about the organization awarding money to financially troubled businesses, including Building Committee Inc. The WEDC gave BCI an unsecured $500,000 loan in 2011, a year after its owner, William Minahan, was taken to court for not paying taxes. BCI, which is no longer in business, and Minahan did not report on the application form that the company or any of its officers were involved in any legal proceedings.
“I hope we can get changes that makes the WEDC look more like the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources that has more accountability to the people of Wisconsin and is more transparent,” Barca said, adding he hopes to introduce a bill in the Assembly that does that.
Barca also said he supports a federal investigation into the WEDC and its awarding of grants.
Lassa expressed frustration over the lack of information coming from the WEDC and again called for WEDC Chief Executive Officer Reed Hall to resign.
“There are troubling questions why WEDC staff kept pushing for federal money and other funding for companies when they knew they were failing,” she said. “We need to push for more accountability. I hope Reed does the right thing and resigns. These are things that have happened under his watch.”
Hannah Renfro, the WEDC’s chief legal counsel, shared with board members that the agency has made many policy changes since awarding some of the questioned loans.
“We are making improvements so something like BCI will not happen again,” she said.
During the meeting, Ariens said he didn’t want the board to spend “too much time being political and pointing fingers … we need to spend more time on creating jobs.”
Lassa said the WEDC board needs to be accountable to taxpayers and respond to the questions raised.
“When the audit came out, we pushed for an emergency board meeting and didn’t get one. We’re hoping the board is more responsive today to what we’re looking to change,” she said. “There are a lot of significant, troubling questions about why the WEDC staff kept pursuing loans for companies in financial trouble.”
— By MaryBeth Matzek
For WisBusiness.com
