Gov. Walker Signs Invitation to More Scandal, More Incompetence and More Cronyism in State Government

MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker is set to sign legislation today to allow Republicans to pack state government with political cronies and allow Walker’s hand picked agency heads to put undue political influence on state employees under their supervision.

A report by One Wisconsin Institute exposed the scope of the four years of failure at Gov. Walker’s Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), where employee protections like those being gutted today were previously repealed. The report found businesses whose owners, directors or employees contributed to the campaign of Scott Walker received over sixty percent of dollars awarded by the jobs agency.

The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross:

“Five years ago Scott Walker dropped the bomb on Wisconsin and stripped 175,000 employees of their workplace rights.

“Today he’s signing a repeal of laws that stood to protect employees and taxpayers from the cronyism, corruption and incompetence rife in his administration.

“When he could, this guy passed over qualified civil servants to hire the child of special interest lobbyist and personally intervened to put a political crony in a six figure salary job to toe the party line.

“Look no further than the disastrous performance of his Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) for what lies in store. While we trail our neighboring states and most of the nation on job creation, this agency has become a virtual ATM for campaign contributors and a place where safeguards are ignored and tax dollars are doled out to cronies under political pressure.

“What Gov. Walker signed today was an invitation to more scandal, more incompetence and more cronyism in state government.”