The Ohio’s Department Of Development, The Department Lt. Governor Lee Fisher Abandoned To Further His Own Political Career, Has Allowed A Texas Company That Outsources Jobs To Central America To Run An Ohio Government Program Designed To Stimulate Ohio’s Economy After Nearly 400,000 Jobs Lost In The Last Three Years:

A Texas company that administered Ohio’s $11 million appliance rebate program used hundreds of workers in El Salvador to process applications and answer customers’ calls.

Parago Inc. never told state officials that it would handle the rebates from an offshore call center, Lisa Patt-McDaniel, director of the Ohio Department of Development, said.

State officials never asked, either. The state’s application doesn’t specifically require companies to say where call centers are situated.

State officials learned of the El Salvador arrangement on the day the program began, after a customer asked a call center employee where he was and then complained to the state.

NBC4 covered the multiple problems the program has experienced:

Governor Strickland has responded (watch his response here):

I’m incredibly disappointed. Determined to never let it happen again. It shouldn’t have happened. We were unaware that this company would outsource these jobs. Perhaps we could have done a better job of vetting the company.

Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher – former head of the Department of Development – has yet to respond.

It is worth noting that during the Democratic primary when Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner accused Fisher of quitting the Department of Development at a time when Ohio most needed him, Fisher responded that he was still involved in state economic development programs.

So when will Lt. Governor Lee Fisher speak up?