Mary Burke’s predecessor as chief of the state Department of Commerce had a three-word description of her performance back in 2006:

“She’s a disaster,” Cory Nettles told a top aide to Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle on Sept. 3, 2006.

Nettles, who was Doyle’s commerce secretary from 2003 to 2005, said Wednesday that he doesn’t recall sending the email to Aaron Olver, his former adviser at the agency, or calling Burke a “disaster.”

Nettles said the note does not represent his current view of Burke’s two-plus years running the commerce agency. The email was provided via an open records request.

“Let me be clear, I have a lot of respect for Mary Burke,” Nettles said Thursday. He has not endorsed in the race between Burke, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, and Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

Nettles included the remark when forwarding an email from John Torinus, the former chief executive officer of Serigraph Inc., a printing company.

Torinus was describing his frustration with Burke after sitting down with her in connection with a meeting of the Milwaukee 7 regional economic development group in 2006. Torinus had wanted the state to pump money into a biotech project and a printing center.

“She sees a continuing need to have a war chest to help individual companies for political reasons, but doesn’t really believe that many of these projects are justified,” Torinus wrote Nettles.

Reached ahead of a speech in Madison on Thursday, Burke told Journal Sentinel reporter Jason Stein that she had acted properly in her role as secretary and didn’t see anything in the email that showed otherwise. She was first shown the email after a meeting with Journal Sentinel editors and reporters Wednesday.

“My reaction is that I will continue to make the choices that I believe are in the best interests of moving Wisconsin’s economy forward and making wise use of taxpayer dollars,” she said. She added that the email didn’t suggest anything untoward: “I didn’t see anything in what I reviewed indicating that at all.”

Furthermore, Burke said that Nettles’ email to Olver didn’t contradict her previous statement that there wasn’t significant infighting or strong tensions at the commerce department during her tenure.

She made that comment late last month after a top official at Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. denounced the way the agency is run, saying in emails that another leader — a former top aide to Walker — is causing WEDC “lasting harm.”

Walker and lawmakers created the WEDC in 2011 as a replacement to the Department of Commerce.

Who cares whether or not there was “significant infighting or strong tensions” at the Commerce Department? The question is whether it did what it was supposed to do under Burke. Remember this report?

Shortly before announcing her resignation as Wisconsin’s secretary of commerce, Mary Burke issued a harsh criticism of her agency…The Commerce Department, which ought to be among the state’s most influential economic players, has sat on the sidelines while other states vie to recruit new businesses, she said…”We are not out there selling the state and attracting the companies,” Burke said late last month, echoing private-sector criticism.