September 26, 2014      5:38 PM
AG's Office says it has worked to recover TEF money from companies that failed to create jobs
AG has worked to recover a large amount of state money overall, but the amount Abbott has tried to recover in TEF funds is small. His office is reviewing the audit of the Enterprise Fund.
After a day of attacks
from Democrats who say the Republican Attorney General running for governor is
duty-bound to try to recover taxpayer money that “went out the window” thanks
to lax oversight of Gov. Perry’s business-luring
Texas
Enterprise Fund, the AG’s Office said Friday it was
already working to recover some of those dollars before a scathing audit was
released.
That audit performed by
the State
Auditor – the first independent audit of that fund – showed $222
million went to companies and other entities that never even submitted formal
applications. Many of those millions did not come with the important strings attached
dictating that new jobs actually be created, the audit found.
After asking for comment
from both the campaign of AG Greg Abbott
and the Office of the Attorney General, we heard back from Jerry Strickland in the AG’s office. He pointed out that the responsibility
of overseeing state funds and auditing them has fallen primarily to the State
Auditor since that position was created in 1929.
|