Saturday, April 23, 2011

WHEDA 'Plan' Is Chapter Two In Our New Blog Series: "WalkerDoubleTalk"

The other day I had collected some of Scott Walker's deliberately deceitful word games - - so "modest proposal" and "truly progressive" and other Walker classics were easily accessible to readers and researchers.

Here's Chapter Two in "WalkerDoubleTalk." I'll organize it this way because I can see there's gonna be a need.

Take a look at this headline on a news release from the Governor's office about WHEDA - - the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority:

Gov. Walker: WHEDA awards $17.1 million in affordable housing tax credits statewide
And an italicized subtitle of sorts:
29 Projects Expected to Create 1,200 Construction Jobs, 1,400 Units of Affordable Housing 
So you say, great: Wisconsin, even under Scott Walker, will pursue and subsidize workforce housing, despite the backlash from Tea Partyish protesters. I'm all for this program and was ready to praise Walker for doing something good.

Then you read into the release and you see that what Walker is doing is distributing Federal tax credits. Somehow, the word "federal" didn't make it into the title, or the sub-head, and is not combined with"tax credits" until its ninth usage.

Walker is taking credit for an economic development tool provided by President Barack Obama and the Federal government.

So let's not have Walker claim 1,200 jobs for his all-important, 2014 re-election tally sheet. Without this federal program stimulating the winning projects' construction, there would be no jobs.

Remember this the next time you hear Walker rip the President, or our alleged dependency on Washington, or the need for state solutions to Wisconsin problems.

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