More scandal at WEDC. No jobs agency gave taxpayer money to two northern Wisconsin firms despite evidence that the companies were in trouble.

MADISON - More bad news for Scott Walker as he runs for president. Yet another report shows that his failed flagship jobs agency, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), wasn’t responsible with taxpayer funds intended for economic development.

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is reporting that WEDC loaned approximately $1.4 million in taxpayer money to two northern Wisconsin firms despite evidence that the companies were in trouble. WEDC has since had to sue the two companies, Tomahawk Metal Products of Tomahawk and North American Finishing of Suring, along with four others for failing to repay the loans or create the jobs promised.

According to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism:

“WEDC made the ill-fated deals with Tomahawk Metal Products and North American Finishing in the first two years of the Walker administration as the governor attempted to fulfill a first-term promise to create 250,000 jobs. Walker fell short of that goal by nearly half, and Wisconsin has remained in the bottom half of job-creating states throughout his tenure.”

Read Dee Hall's investigative report in the Wisconsin State Journal here.