The May Executive Board meeting will be held at S&R Bar and Restaurant (W3820 County Road C, Plymouth, WI at 5:30pm).

Just a week after a scathing audit showed that Scott Walker’s Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation failed to follow state laws and properly track taxpayer-funded loans, the state’s chief jobs agency is being rocked with yet another scandal as a top official is resigning amid controversy over personal debts of nearly $45,000 owed to the State of Wisconsin.

State records obtained by WKOW News 27 show that John Gillespie, hired in April to serve as WEDC’s Public Information Officer as part of a plan to improve the scandal-plagued agency’s damaged reputation, owes $36,047 in back taxes to the State of Wisconsin, according to the Department of Revenue’s delinquent taxpayer list, and another $7,770 for improperly received unemployment insurance compensation benefits, according to the Department of Workforce Development.

“I don’t often find myself at a loss for words, but the only phrase coming to mind right now is, “are you kidding me?” Unfortunately, this is what happens when your governor is off campaigning for president, leaving an unqualified political hack with no business experience in charge of a multi-billion dollar effort to save Wisconsin’s floundering economy,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Tuesday. “This kind of rank incompetence is why Wisconsin ranks dead last in the nation in short-term job growth, has plummeted from 11th to 44th in job creation and ranks 45th in wages under Scott Walker. It’s beyond comprehension that Scott Walker continues to deflect the blame for what really amounts to almost criminal negligence. The time for excuses is over — the failures at WEDC are Scott Walker’s failures and he must take responsibility for them.”

Read more here.

For those of you who are going to be delegates to this year’s DPW State Convention, make sure your membership is current by 5:00pm this Friday, May 24th.

Registration is $20 before May 24th, and goes up to $30 afterwards and at the door. Anyone can register early at www.wisdems.org/convention, by calling 608-255-5172, or sending payment to 110 King St, Suite 203 Madison, WI 53703.

If you need any more information on the convention, the number to reserve a hotel room, etc, you can visit www.wisdems.org/convention.

Save the Date! Join us for our annual summer picnic to be held on Monday, July 22nd at 5:30pm. Stay tuned for further details.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, Scott Walker’s chief job creation agency, failed to follow state law and properly track taxpayer funded loans, according to an audit from the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau.

Other problems found by auditors included awarding funds to ineligible businesses and ineligible projects, lack of oversight, and improper expenditures by WEDC employees on items ranging from Badgers football tickets to iTunes gift cards and alcoholic beverages.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Republican state Sen. Robert Cowles, co-chairman on the Legislative Audit Committee, said of the audit:

“I hope they can get their act together, but this is pretty darn bad. I’d say the jury is out whether this was a good idea to create this whole entity . . . I don’t think there can be any more excuses. They’ve got to fix this thing.”

Scott Walker created WEDC in 2011 to serve as the state’s chief job creation agency. The most recent and accurate federal jobs numbers available show Wisconsin ranked 44th in the nation in job creation, down from 11th when Walker took office.

Read more here.