Republican lawmakers plan to remove Gov. Scott Walker from the board of the flagship economic development agency that he created.

Walker called for the creation of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation as one of his first acts in office, and the governor has chaired it ever since it was formed. This year, Walker proposed merging WEDC with other agencies and removing all elected officials from the board. With those merger plans now shelved, lawmakers are keeping their spots on the board. However, they’re getting rid of the governor’s.

Middleton Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach said Republicans "fired" Walker.

"Obviously, WEDC hasn’t been working, the Republicans know it, and they are removing the governor from the board and saying to him, essentially, 'Your services are no longer needed or wanted for that case,'" said Erpenbach.

However, Republican lawmakers said Walker was being removed from the WEDC Board at his request.

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"We did not fire the governor," said Sen. Alberta Darling, co-chairwoman of the committee. "The governor asked to be removed."

Darling said Walker was concerned that his presence on the board was politicizing WEDC.

Thursday's move follows multiple critical audits of WEDC and a news report that a top Walker official personally lobbied for a half-million dollar loan to a failing company run by a top Walker donor.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with quotes from Sen. Alberta Darling.