The Department of Revenue has revoked $50,000 worth of tax credits from W.W. Grainger, a distributor of industrial and maintenance supplies, after the company failed to create promised jobs, sold subsidiaries employing hundreds of its workers and sent some jobs overseas.
Category: Scott Walker’s Wisconsin
Stories about Scott Walker’s time as governor of Wisconsin — the effects of his policies on public sector unions, job creation, public records, the environment and more.
Posted inGovernment, Open records, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
Former cabinet members: Top Scott Walker aide ordered them to avoid state email, phones
Two former members of Gov. Scott Walker’s cabinet say the administration has had a policy of communicating official business through private channels. The allegations come as the Walker administration faces criticism for cutting public access to internal text messages and other so-called transitory state records.
Posted inEconomy, Government, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
Scott Walker’s untold story: Jobs lacking after big state subsidy of Kohl’s stores
In its first 15 months of existence, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. awarded $126 million in incentives to 24 companies without a full financial review. Some deals turned out well, others have failed. The largest — up to $62.5 million in tax credits to Kohl’s Corp. — so far has not generated the number of jobs or amount of capital spending promised.
Posted inEconomy, Government, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
8 tales from around Wisconsin: Some WEDC deals worked, others tanked
Snapshots of some of the 24 companies that got a piece of the $126 million in state taxpayer subsidies without full financial review from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
Posted inEconomy, Government, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
Republican, Democratic board members of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. speak out
Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, and Sen. Rick Gudex, R-Fond du Lac, address criticism of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Both lawmakers are WEDC board members.
Posted inEconomy, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
Low pay leads to double subsidies for retail companies, group says
Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that advocates for accountability in economic development, generally recommends against taxpayer subsidies for retail companies such as Kohl’s Corp.
The group’s research director, Philip Mattera, said retail positions tend to be low-paid, part-time jobs.
Posted inGovernment, Open records, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
Scott Walker’s office ‘obstructed’ probe of missing veterans funds, investigators allege
The Milwaukee County executive’s office under Scott Walker “obstructed” a criminal investigation into missing donations to a veterans fund, two investigators alleged Friday in a federal court brief that includes recently unsealed investigative records.
Posted inEconomy, Government, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
Two companies fail after getting $1.4 million from Gov. Scott Walker’s jobs agency
Despite signs of trouble with the companies, Gov. Scott Walker’s jobs agency awarded about $1.4 million in taxpayer money to two northern Wisconsin firms that have now failed to repay the loans.
Posted inScott Walker's Wisconsin, WisWatch Blog
Drafting notes silent on author of open records overhaul
Sixty pages of drafting documents included only initials and partial names of legislative service agency staffers.
Posted inGovernment, Open records, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
Update: Gov. Scott Walker backs away from changes to open records law but is mum on his role
The governor and legislative leaders declined to say whether the governor himself was behind the original measure. A review by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism shows similarities between recent records request denials from the governor’s office and the state Department of Administration and changes inserted in the budget Thursday by Republican leaders — similarities that raise questions about whether Walker himself was involved in the budget proposal.
Posted inEconomy, Government, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
Most northern counties left behind by Gov. Scott Walker’s jobs agency
While cities like Madison, Waukesha and Green Bay thrive economically, northern Wisconsin counties have been left behind in the state’s economic development efforts. Local economic development leaders share stories of being ineligible for economic development programs brought by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, a quasi-governmental agency created in 2011 by Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Northern counties are also receiving proportionally less help from the WEDC, with many local leaders saying they are ineligible or unable to meet basic requirements for certain programs or incentives.
Posted inEnvironment, Government, Scott Walker's Wisconsin, Water Watch Wisconsin
Layoffs at Wisconsin DNR would trigger terminations of limited-term employees
A state law requires that before the DNR can lay off a single permanent staffer, it must let go any limited-term employees or probationary employees with the same job classification. According to numbers DNR furnished the Legislative Fiscal Bureau in early May, the science bureau has 95 LTEs.