Walker's WEDC woes mirror many other GOP states trying to Fleece Taxpayers!

I hope that Washington Monthly will be one of many in the media covering the latest GOP scam; public/private corporations, the states' supposed answer to job creation that uses taxpayer dollars without debate or accountability.

Where public schools have been criticized for lack of accountability, a completely false premise, Republicans are okay with secret loans and backroom deals that dispense taxpayer dollars like an ATM, with no transparency. They can get away with it because "private" is part of their sales pitch to conservative voters who think the private sector can do no wrong.

From Stateline’s Josh Goodman comes one of the least surprising ledes of the year:

Several states, most of them led by Republican governors, have experimented in recent years with the idea of turning their economic development agencies over to semi-private management. The results have not been uniformly successful. Many of these organizations are struggling to balance job creation with public accountability.

Goodman goes on to report serious problems for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, a Scott Walker policy love child that made loans to businesses with little if any oversight or accountability, leading to the recent resignation of WEDC’s chief financial officer. And Wisconsin’s not alone:

Similar semi-private agencies in other states have had their share of controversies. Both the Arizona Commerce Authority and JobsOhio have been lighting rods for criticism, with opponents arguing that they haven’t been transparent enough … JobsOhio’s future is also clouded by litigation challenging the organization’s constitutionality and the legality of its planned primary funding source, the lease of state liquor stores. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis television station WTHR reported this week that Indiana State Senator Mike Delph introduced legislation requiring the partially privatized Indiana Economic Development Corporation to report how many of the jobs companies promise under its deals end up being created. Those numbers are currently kept private. “The bottom line is people have a right to know how their tax dollars are being spent,” Delph said.

The article goes on to describe these taxpayer fleecing public/private corporations “as sort of a repatriation program for ‘looted’ money. Accountability to the public for use of public funds, whether we’re talking about business loans or school vouchers, is for them the lowest possible priority when it ought to be Job One.”