Gov. Scott Walker says he has confidence in the leadership of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, after a newspaper revealed a dispute between two of the agency’s top officials.
The Wisconsin State Journal revealed on Monday that it had obtained a resignation letter written by Lee Swindall, a vice president at WEDC. In it, Swindall criticized Ryan Murray, the agency’s CEO, for “lacking either the talent or experience” to lead the semi-public, semi-private office.
The State Journal reported that it appears that friction between Swindall and Murray arose because of the young CEO’s enforcement of new rules at the agency. For example, in a different letter obtained by the newspaper, Murray noted that Swindall had repeatedly asked to be reimbursed for hotel stays in the vice presidents’ “home base” city, which would have broken a new WEDC policy. Murray denied those requests.
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At a campaign stop in Green Bay, Scott Walker said he expects all state departments to enforce rules, mentioning the rule about hotel stay reimbursements in particular.
“That’s a good example of … where the leadership at WEDC said, ‘Here are the policies.’ They’re clearly articulated and they expect the staff is going to follow those,” said Walker.
Swindall remains employed at WEDC.
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