Senate Majority Leader Says He’s Not Interested In Scrapping WEDC

The state Senate’s top Republican said he’s not interested in a Democratic plan to scrap Wisconsin’s flagship economic development agency.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said he’s aware of the challenges the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. has faced ever since Republicans formed the quasi-private agency in 2011. However, Fitzgerald said WEDC is working.

“WEDC is having great successes at the local level, and all I have to do is look into my own Senate seat and see certainly that there’s a number of corporations that are either located or expanding within my Senate seat as a result of work that was done by WEDC,” said Fitzgerald.

Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca and state Sen. Julie Lassa, D-Stevens Point, said this week that mismanagement and scandals at WEDC have damaged its reputation beyond repair. They want to abolish WEDC and start over with a new public jobs agency.