Madison — The head of the state’s job-creation agency is putting off Democrats who want its board to discuss outsourcing and its process for conducting background checks, saying it can’t take up the issue until October.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. has been plagued with problems since it was created in 2011 to replace the state Department of Commerce.

Early on, incentives were given without background checks being done on questionable companies and the agency has not independently verified whether companies getting state aid have created the jobs they’ve said they have.

The two Democratic lawmakers on the WEDC board asked to discuss outsourcing and background checks at a board meeting in July. But agency officials said they couldn’t address the matter then because it wasn’t on the board’s agenda.

The Democrats — Sen. Julie Lassa of Stevens Point and Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca of Kenosha — then asked that the matter be put on the agenda for the Sept. 24 meeting. In a letter Friday, WEDC’s secretary, Reed Hall, declined to do that because the board wouldn’t have time.

Via WEDC board puts off outsourcing issue for a month @ JS All Politics Blog.