The news from Scott Walker's scandal-plagued WI Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) is coming hot and heavy now.
You should check out today's press conference calling for WEDC CEO Reed Hall to resign, and Jake's excellent diary bringing you up to date on Walker's less than "highly-effective" campaign donor slush-fund quasi-public economic development contraption.
I just obtained about 1,200 pages of WEDC documents related to the unsecured $500k loan to Building Committee Inc (BCI), as well as the contracts for the 27 awards that were handed out without any underwriting/eligibility review. This is a ridiculous amount of documentation for any one person to review, so let's all have a go at it.
Share your findings/thoughts in the comments! We can call it live-blogging or something.
Most of the documents are related to the loan to Building Committee Inc (BCI), which was pushed through by former Secretary of Administration Mike Huebsch.
Before diving into the BCI files, you may want to keep these key dates in mind (much more detail here):
May 2010 - BCI sued for $16k in back taxes by WI Dept of Revenue (DOR)
Nov 2010 - Minahan (owner of BCI) makes $10k donation to Scott Walker
Sept 19, 2011 - WEDC awards BCI $500k loan
Apr 2012 - BCI evicted from downtown Milwaukee offices; $171k in unpaid rent
Aug 2012 - Hallease sues BCI & Minahan for $220k in delinquent vehicle leases, including Minahan's Maserati
Dec 2012 - WEDC grants loan extension to Aug 1, 2013
I may post updates under each of these links to point out the more interesting passages...
BCI Files #1
BCI Files #2
BCI Files #3
BCI Files #4 (the smallest file, several key emails)
- pg. 4 - 2/27/12 - WEDC discussing add'l $2M award, notes that BCI phone line is disconnected
- pg. 7 - 3/20/12 - WEDC "probably going to advance another $1.5M to BCI;" Steve Sabatke, Underwriting Team Lead: "I can't believe we are actually going to do this."
- pg. 8-9 - 3/26/12 - WEDC Underwriter: No clear source of repayment, no adequate collateral, Minihan's credit cards maxed out/late, behind on mortgage. Recommends no add'l funding.
- pg. 10 - 4/17/12 - Minahan calls/emails Jadin still seeking $1.5M; has just been evicted from office space the week before
- pg. 12 - 4/17/12 - BCI "just getting weird;" positive they are getting funds and sounds like they were encouraged by Huebsch
- pg. 13 - 4/26/12 - WEDC receives call from Maserati dealer saying Minahan promised to pay with "grant" from WEDC; "the sooner we officially deny this, the better."
- pg. 21 - 11/2/12 - BCI loan is 1 month past due, WEDC sending past due letter
- pg. 23 - 1/23/13 - Waukesha County agreed to transfer $1.5M in bonding to BCI; WEDC to Waukesha Co: "thank you for agreeing to the transfer."
- pg. 29 - 3/5/13 - WEDC requesting bonding for BCI from 3 more counties (COO Ryan Murray taking the lead)
- pg. 36 - 1/8/14 - WEDC still working to secure $4.5M from 3 counties for BCI (WEDC already sending out default notices to BCI since Sept 2013)
WEDC Contracts for Loans Without Underwriting
Other Resources:
Giant List of WEDC Awards with Political Donations
Political Donations for the List of 27 Awards Without Underwriting