MADISON (WKOW) -- Governor Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin) says a federal agency's concerns about the finances of a state economic entity he created is simply a compliance issue.
The WEDC is a public-private entity that replaced the Department of Commerce.
Officials at the U.S. Housing and Urban Development agency (HUD) have questions about the way the WEDC is distributing money.
The WEDC welcomed Gov. Walker to help launch its $2 million "In Wisconsin" branding campaign for products made in-state Wednesday afternoon.
But, Gov. Walker faced a lot of questions about a letter the Wisconsin State Journal first reported on, which HUD sent to the Wisconsin Department of Administration on August 12th.
The letter outlines several concerns, including the WEDC's failure to check the financial soundness of two Wisconsin companies which the agency awarded $1.4 million worth of federal grants to last year.
"That's a component, but I'm saying of all the concerns they raised the focal point of the letter wasn't just that," said Gov. Walker. "It was about grants going all the way back nearly a decade, in terms of the administration of that, so, the response from the Department of Administration was that they had a plan to go through and look at all those in the past."
Gov. Walker says DOA is also focused on making sure the WEDC doesn't have any compliance issues like that in the future.
Just last week, WEDC Secretary Paul Jadin announced he was leaving the agency to take the head job at Thrive, a regional economic development group based in Madison.
Jadin said the concerns brought to light by HUD, did not play a factor in his departure.
