The state’s jobs creation agency continues to be subject to scrutiny. The legislature’s Joint Audit Committee met Tuesday, and state Senator Kathleen Vinehout, an Alma Democrat, pressed Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Mark Hogan on a report, which she said the jobs agency did not make available to auditors.
“WEDC is a creation of the state, and it was paid for with taxpayer dollars, which means it should be public to the people who paid for it,” Vinehout said.
Hogan, citing attorney-client privilege, did not agree. “I understand your point, I do not agree with it,” Hogan told the lawmaker. “We have a habit here at the audit committee, of passing laws to get documents when agencies don’t give them to us,” Vinehout said.
Prior to Vinehout’s questioning of Hogan, GOP state Senator Alberta Darling of River Hills argued that lawmakers should focus on progress made by WEDC’s administration and oversight. “We often get smoke in the room and pants on fire,” she said of discussions about the agency.
Vinehout, along with state Representative Melissa Sargent, also questioned how WEDC could be trusted to oversee a three billion dollar contract with Foxconn. Hogan insisted it can.