Audit: Texas Enterprise Fund gave out $222M with no strings attached

[William Tell]

Audit: Texas Enterprise Fund gave out $222M with no strings attached



Photo: David Paul Morris
An independent audit of the Texas Enterprise Fund has found that roughly $222 million doled out from the fund went to companies that submitted no applications or made no promises to create jobs. The fund has been highly touted over the years by Gov. Rick Perry, who has said it was an invaluable tool to bring jobs to Texas and to stem the flow of jobs that might otherwise have left the state.
The audit, conducted by the Texas State Auditor’s Office, was the first time the Texas Enterprise Fund’s activities were reviewed by an outside agency. Among its findings, the report says that during 2004-2005, the fund did not require recipients to submit applications or create direct jobs for 11 projects that received awards totaling $222 million, roughly 44 percent of the $505 million awarded in total by the fund.
The report noted that a $40 million award in 2004 to then-Austin based Sematech Inc., a research consortium, had no requirements to create jobs, nor did the company submit an application for its funds. At the time of the award, Perry said the funding would allow Sematech to add 350 workers here, and economic research groups touting the award said it could eventually create up to 4,6000 new jobs in the area. By 2007, the company had moved its headquarters to Albany, New York.

Read full article at Raging Elephants Radio:
http://www.ragingelephantsradio.com/...ings-attached/

[CaseyJones]

gee I wonder how much of that money comes back as campaign contributions....

[William Tell]

gee I wonder how much of that money comes back as campaign contributions....

Me too