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By Dave Umhoefer February 11, 2011
Back to Replace Department of Commerce with development-focused agency

Bill has been signed, now the focus is on getting the promised results

As rivals for the governor's chair, Republican Scott Walker and Democrat Tom Barrett agreed that Wisconsin's economic development agency needed an overhaul.

"You have to fundamentally change the Department of Commerce from a regulator of commerce to a promoter of commerce," said Walker, who won the post in November 2010.

The notion gained steam after a bipartisan group of economic activists -- including former commerce secretaries under both Republican Tommy Thompson and Democrat Jim Doyle -- endorsed a more aggressive agency. They authored a study that pointed to states such as Indiana and Georgia and their job recruitment efforts.

Walker made revamping the state Commerce Department a priority in the campaign and part of  the legislative agenda he pushed in his first days in office.

Republicans defeated a series of amendments that Democrats said would make the agency more accountable to taxpayers for how it doles out large incentives to businesses. GOP lawmakers said the proposals were either unnecessary or would be taken up later in the state budget bill.

The Legislature approved the partial privatization of the agency and Walker has signed it into law Feb. 9, 2011.

But the full outline of how the agency will function won't be clear until later this year. And Walker's promise included how it would function, as a "development-focused agency.”

So, we're keeping this one at In the Works.

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