Poaching Is Bad, But It Looks Great On A Résumé

I generally like the work of the Public Policy Forum. Although, I've had issues with some of their analysis, overall they seem to do a good job presenting useful data.

But this is more about the presentation of ideas by the Journal Sentinel.

A recent article by John Schmid - Milwaukee's 'poised for vibrancy,' Public Policy Forum leader says - celebrated the new Public Policy Forum leader for doing the exact thing that a recent Journal Sentinel editorial preached against.

When Milwaukee set out in 2005 to create a new economic development framework, its business leaders began by poaching ideas from Chicago, which had worked successfully to lure the Boeing Co.'s headquarters away from Seattle only a few years earlier. 

In doing so, the Milwaukee 7 — as the seven-county economic strategy agency went on to name itself — appropriated a few key concepts from Virginia Carlson, the founding director of research at the more established World Business Chicago and part of the team behind the Boeing coup.

On July 30, 2013 the Journal editorialized, Governors Should Swear Off Poaching.

Poaching. That's the counterproductive, and sometimes costly, practice of trying to lure jobs across state lines.

Too many governors, including Wisconsin's Scott Walker early in his administration, seem to think that it works. It doesn't. Companies rarely move because of government incentives — and even when they do, it's a zero-sum game that does nothing to make the economic pie larger.

So, poaching is costly, counterproductive, and does nothing to grow the economic pie. Yet, it is also somehow a meaningful feather in the cap of the Public Policy Forum's new director.

Forum Unable To Avert Recession

Tom Daykin reports the findings of a new study of the Main Street Milwaukee program, conducted by the Public Policy Forum, shows the program has unclear goals and is in poor condition.

The study focuses on the years 2005 through 2009. Now, the program may have coordination, funding, and vision issues. But to draw any definitive conclusions from data gathered in which half of the years being studied were recessionary is unfair.

To knock business and job creation during such a period is ridiculous. Is the Public Policy Forum unaware that the country, and the world, has been losing jobs? Do they really believe "more expertise in economic development" would have changed the program's outcomes during this recession?

This is analogous to saying the Public Policy Forum is failing the public because it hasn't developed public policies to help Milwaukee avoid the negative consequences of the recession. So, according to their own logic, the funders of the Forum should demand more accountability of the Forum managers, hire people with more public policy expertise, and specify the Forum's mission.