Walker's Job Creation Agency Didn't Double Check Job Creation
What happens when Scott Walker's signature job creation agency doesn't actually check whether jobs were created? Walker loses even more credibility…
Ayotte Allies Want To Take Jobs From New Hampshire
Kelly Ayotte's record on outsourcing is shameless. While she was supposed to be representing the people of New Hampshire in the…
Scott Walker deems his signature jobs program a massive failure.
When Scott Walker announced his signature job creation program, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, in 2011, he said he was "transforming" state government to align with "our most important mission: creating jobs."
Fast forward through years of scandal and shady backroom deals between Walker and his cronies, and you get this:
Coincidence?
PolitiFact crunched the numbers and Scott Walker was out of state at least 44 percent of the last five months -- ignoring his day job to test the warm, inviting presidential waters. Meanwhile, Wisconsin is dead last in job creation in the Midwest and on pace for record layoffs under Walker. His in-state job approval is also plummeting, down eight to 41 percent.
WisPolitics: $4.9 million in WEDC loans delinquent
Not only is Scott Walker's scandal-plagued, privatized job agency funding companies that are shipping Wisconsin jobs overseas, but it has a growing problem of loan delinquency. While Walker is out of state laying the groundwork for his presidential bid, his record as governor is crumbling beneath him at home. From WisPolitics.com:
The value of WEDC loans that are considered delinquent more than tripled in the last quarter. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. has been criticized for the number of delinquent loans in recent years. The numbers prepared for Thursday's board meeting show the value of those loans jumped from almost $1.3 million in the second quarter to $4.9 million.
National Journal: Walker’s lacking governing record is a disadvantage
While Scott Walker travels around the country trying out right wing sound bites for his presidential ambitions, he's letting his job responsibilities back home in Wisconsin fizzle out with layoffs on track to reach 10,000 this year -- the highest number since Walker took office. National Journal took a look at GOP governors running for president in 2016 and found that each -- especially Walker -- has had their popularity crater amid lackluster results. NJ asks, “Can you be disliked by a majority of your constituents back home and still make the case for being president?”
WEDC: Walker’s Expensive Corporate Welfare Failure
Eaton Corporation, a company awarded money by Scott Walker's Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), has announced the upcoming layoff of 93 workers at it's Watertown plant. The company previously faced criticism when it outsourced jobs to foreign countries shortly after receiving millions from WEDC. Eaton is just one example of the failures that have plagued Walker's WEDC -- including the governor's beloved Kohl's -- since its start.
AP: Walker’s Wisconsin still lags nation in job growth
Key Point: “The state lags in job growth and its budget faces a shortfall. It's a record that complicates Walker's path in early primary states as he sells himself as a reformer. “Wisconsin has added private-sector jobs at a lower rate than the national average since July 2011 - six months after Walker took office. Walker promised in the 2010 campaign that if elected his policies would create 250,000 private sector jobs. But only about 145,000 such jobs were created over his first four years."
BREAKING AUDIO: Perdue's Closing Argument
Asked today about whether his company was closing down American plants as they opened others overseas, Perdue quickly responded, "Sure, we closed down plants all the time..." Listen to the breaking audio above. It's an interesting closing argument -- no pun intended -- to cap off what's been a disastrous last month for David Perdue's campaign, as a series of events shed light on both his business career and his worldview. His downward spiral began when an old deposition surfaced, revealing that Perdue himself had admitted, "I spent most of my career" outsourcing. Asked the next day how he would defend that record, Perdue looked shocked -- "Well defend it? I'm proud of it!" he replied.
The Greedy Outsourcing Party
It's no secret that Mitt Romney's checkered business career was part of what doomed his election hopes in 2012. When people looked at Mitt Romney, they saw a vulture capitalist who was willing to close down American plants, lay off workers, and ship jobs overseas, so long as it helped their bottom dollar. Having run for president, Romney's business practices are likely the most infamous among Republican politicians, but he's hardly alone. This year, key GOP candidates in close senate and gubernatorial races espouse the same self-interested philosophy -- reaping profits while hurting American workers. In Georgia, David Perdue's campaign was rocked as POLITICO reported that Perdue had stated plainly in a 2005 deposition that he had "spent most of his career" outsourcing. This statement itself would have been severely damaging to Perdue's candidacy, but what was even more detrimental, perhaps because it was so revealing, was Perdue's dumbfounded response to the story. Asked how he would defend his outsourcing career, Perdue looked surprised -- "Well defend it? I'm proud of it!" In Illinois, billionaire gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner, who took a page out of Romney's playbook and funneled millions in profits to Cayman Island tax shelters to avoid paying American taxes, has demonstrated similar priorities. Rauner's vast portfolio while at GTCR, the private equity firm he co-founded, included directing H-Cube, a “premier global business outsourcing firm.” And just this month, we learned that a lawsuit has been launched by the former CEO of LeapSource, another outsourcing company where Rauner sat on the board, alleging personal threats from Rauner over her lack of success as their CEO.