MADISON, Wis. -- Outgoing University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor John Wiley said the state's largest business lobby has been taken over by "political extremists" and has become an obstacle to economic development.

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Wiley is using a 3,000-word essay in the September issue of Madison Magazine to slam Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and state lawmakers for creating a "toxic" political environment that puts partisanship ahead of the state's pressing needs.

Wiley's jabs come as he prepares to step down Sept. 1 as chancellor, a job he has held since 2001.

The strongly worded essay was written as a follow-up to one five years ago, which sounded the alarm about the state's economic health and its effect on education. As he prepared to step down, Wiley said that he has some regrets, which is why he's restarting the discussion.

"I guess my biggest disappointment is that we haven't made more progress and gotten some public debate on the future of public education at all levels," said Wiley. "There is no way to tax cut our way out of this. There is no way to spend our way out of this. The only way is to build the economy -- economic development should be everyone's No. 1 priority."

Wiley said WMC has become a partisan political lobbying organization that does little to create the high-income jobs the state's economy needs to flourish.

"Wisconsin has lost its way," Wiley writes in the essay. "Our politics has become a poisonous swill and the most influential voice for the business community has been taken hostage by partisan ideologues."

"Right now, we have ideological purists pushing us to one extreme or the other instead of working together to find the appropriate balance and compromise," said Wiley. "WMC supports as far as I can tell only very conservative Republican candidates for office, exclusively."

That partisanship, Wiley said, has led to WMC being "the single biggest driver of our toxic political environment and thus, the single biggest obstacle to the recovery of Wisconsin's economy."

"The very candidates I know they supported are the ones that have been harshest on the university and have diddled around with topics that that have nothing to do with economic development or the welfare of the state," said Wiley.

It's a cause close to his heart. He recalls his first trip to Wisconsin as arriving in the "promised land" and through the years it's eroded.

"Most of the reasons that I came here to go to school and wanted to return are not true anymore," said Wiley.

He offers solutions including rewriting the state's tax code, but ultimately, he said he believes it won't happen without legislative compromise.

"Name a society or a state in the country that's run entirely by extreme conservative or entirely by extreme liberal right wing or left wing ideology that's successful?" said Wiley. "It has to be a balance between the two."

James Buchen, the vice president of government relations for WMC, disputed Wiley's statements by phone on Wednesday.

"It's unfortunate that he chose his retirement to take a parting shot at us. His assertions about our issue positions are in conflict with public record and he should read our legislative agenda to see what we support," said Buchen.

"The facts that underlie his assertions are pretty much all wrong," said Buchen. "Why he chose this opportunity to take such a negative shot at us, is a little bit of a mystery.

Buchen continued, "He suggests in his article that when it was announced that when we ranked 11th, that we called Wisconsin a "tax hell." That's just 180 degrees from the truth. He asserts that we oppose every minimum wage hike. Well, the fact is the last two minimum wage hikes we supported. And I sat on the governor's minimum wage advisory council and voted for a minimum wage hike."

In recent months, several companies and their leaders have distanced themselves from WMC.

Marsha Lindsay, CEO of Lindsay Stone and Briggs, and David Wittwer, CEO of TDS, both have recently left the board. Verona-based Epic has said it will no longer do business with anyone affiliated with WMC -- citing ethical concerns about the organization, WISC-TV reported.

"The article, and all of the points that it makes, are based on facts that aren't facts, that are just flat wrong," said Buchen. "I'm sure that if he understood the facts as they really are, he's probably draw different conclusions and would probably retract that ridiculous assertion."