Thursday, July 10, 2008

Commerce Secretary No Help

I guess this is the kind of results we get for $80 meals and $500 hotels. 

Madison - At least two businessmen who went on the state’s March trade mission to Ireland and the United Kingdom said they were disappointed with Commerce Secretary Jack Fischer, one even saying Fischer hurt his efforts.

“I’m not sure of Jack’s purpose on the trip but it did nothing to help any of the participants’ businesses,” Chris Frigo of Forte Composites wrote in his official evaluation of the trade mission.

Frigo said the trade mission overall was effective and handled well, but that Fischer himself was not helpful.

“Jack Fischer’s participation of the mission was not representative or positive for Wisconsin business,” Frigo wrote in the evaluation, released to the Journal Sentinel under the state’s open records law. “On several occasions during the trip I was embarrassed that he was our leader. His rambling speech during the embassy reception caused the premature end to the party as most of us were just warming up to the prospects.”

Another participant in the trip, Bonstone Materials owner Mike Beckmann, concurred in an interview Wednesday.

“The guy did ramble on - that’s the appropriate phrase,” Beckmann said. “He kept talking about Wisconsin this and the Badgers that. Who the hell cares? We’re in Ireland. He was very long-winded . . . . We expected a five-minute welcome speech, but it rambled.”

UPDATE: Thinking of this further…

Consider the role that Fischer was expected to play here.  He was expected to give a five-minute welcome speech.  Is the expense of sending him to Ireland worth a five-minute fluff speech?  Or could the businessmen there have handled it? 

I actually think that trade missions can be very valuable.  But they should be limited to people who are actually adding value.

(8) Comments
Posted by Owen at 0747 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. There should be some way to quantify if this guy is adding value, and the expense is worth it.  If there’s no way to quantify it, then it probably shouldn’t be occurring… just like in a business.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 10, 2008 at 1148 hrs


  2. You folks are missing the “BIG” story here.  Fischer went on these so called business trips with his “executive assistant” and charged the Wisconsin taxpayers over $20,000 for expensive hotels, expensive meals, etc. during a time of high budget deficits and Diamond Jim telling all departments to tighten their belt.  Just google his assistant and you’ll find a young buxom blonde, then google his wife who is a doctor in Appleton and you’ll see why he was taking the trips with the blonde and not the wife - LOL!!!  Does a light bulb go off here???  If I were Diamond Jim I would have hauled this guy into my office Monday morning and told him I wanted his resignation by the end of the week.  How much you want to bet when Fischer resigns (which should be soon) he’ll do it because he “wants to spend more time with his family”.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 10, 2008 at 1320 hrs


  3. I don’t think it’s fair to accuse him of having an affair based on the attractiveness of his assistant.  Pretty people can be professional and not diddle their bosses on business trips.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 10, 2008 at 1338 hrs


  4. And that my friends is called a Dohnal.  Make up a complete fabrication to impugn someone’s character for purely political reasons.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 10, 2008 at 1347 hrs


  5. Glad to see that there is always a “presumption of innocence” going on at this here blog!  Heaven forbid that opinons might be stated before all the facts are in & proven.

    I understand “Kneenor”‘s position on this - I certainly felt that something is being implied by the MJS (see http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=769462) which was also covered here earlier.

    Fischer and Godt had four days of meetings in Canada but spent nine days there

    The two arrived in Prague on April 19, a day before the arrival date listed on the official agenda. They returned on April 27, four days after the official agenda ended.

    Miller Fienen said Fischer and Godt saved $742 in airfare costs by leaving on Sunday instead of Saturday. But records show those savings were wiped out by $892 in hotel costs for the two that Saturday night.

    Fischer’s two predecessors under Doyle took a total of five international trips between them. Secretaries Cory Nettles and Mary Burke were accompanied by top staff and employees with expertise in international trade, but never by an administrative assistant like Godt, who was hired by Burke

    .

    Again, let us not make any assumptions here.  I think Doyle and his aides have provided plenty of follow-up comments that should put our minds at ease.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 10, 2008 at 1616 hrs


  6. MHT, I read that article exactly the same way you did.

    But apparently the Secretary has worse problems:  a mouth that won’t stop. 

    Maybe he thinks he’s Castro or something—but that’s not helpful.

    Posted by dad29 on July 10, 2008 at 2018 hrs


  7. Well said, Wendy. I reserve any judgment until I see exactly how hot this administrative assistant is.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 10, 2008 at 2201 hrs


  8. I’ll go out on a limb, but not to far, and say that anyone who thinks these trips were on the up and up is all wet

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 11, 2008 at 1513 hrs


Commenting is not available in this channel entry.