By Dee J. Hall
Gov. Scott Walker, then-chairman of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., participates in a WEDC board meeting in late 2013 in La Crosse along with CEO Reed Hall, left, and then-chief operating officer Ryan Murray. Walker, a candidate for president, recently removed himself from the board after a negative audit and critical news coverage of the job-creation agency.
Tomahawk Metal Products and North American Finishing promised to provide hundreds of jobs; WEDC made loans despite warning signs
The King of Rhetoric cover ups his scandals.
Despite signs of trouble within the companies, (click here) Gov. Scott Walker’s jobs agency loaned about $1.4 million in taxpayer money to two northern Wisconsin firms that now have failed to fully repay the loans or create hundreds of promised jobs.The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. sued the companies — Tomahawk Metal Products of Tomahawk and North American Finishing of Suring — along with four others for failure to repay state taxpayer-funded loans or comply with grant terms. The others sued since 2014 are TJ’s Taylor’s One Price Cleaners of Madison, Ratio Inc. of Monona, Building Committee Inc. of Milwaukee and Green Box NA Green Bay of De Pere.
They defaulted.
WEDC made the ill-fated deals with Tomahawk Metal Products and North American Finishing (click here) in the first two years of the Walker administration as the governor attempted to fulfill a first-term promise to create 250,000 jobs. Walker fell short of that goal by about 100,000 jobs, and Wisconsin has remained in the bottom half of job-creating states throughout his tenure.
Late Friday, the agency disclosed it has settled its $360,933 claim against Tomahawk Metal Products for $125,360. In a statement, WEDC spokesman Mark Maley said the agency feared the company owner would declare bankruptcy, significantly delaying repayment to the state....
