Is Wisconsin Getting Conned With Trump, Walker Foxconn Deal?

MADISON, Wis. — Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn announced today that it intends to locate a company facility in the state of Wisconsin in exchange for a secretly negotiated incentive package reputed to cost taxpayers multiple billions of dollars in the coming years.

The backdrop for the deal comes with both corporation’s reputation for demanding massive public subsidies to lure its business and the desperation of the Republican politicians negotiating in secret who have been unable to pass a state budget, despite total control of state government.

The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross:

“According to Gov. Walker’s WEDC, Wisconsin would get $181 million a year in state and local tax revenue, and we only have to pay $250 million a year to get it. Talk about the ‘art of the deal.’

“The prospect this secret deal is the best thing for Wisconsin taxpayers is, to say the least, slim. You have the desperate to be re-elected Scott Walker, the self-interested Donald Trump and a foreign corporation notorious for demanding massive subsidies for jobs that oftentimes have never materialized negotiating behind closed doors.

“There is a long list of critical questions that remain unanswered, not the least of which is what else could the public funds being put on the table to boost the profits of a foreign corporation be used for in Wisconsin?

“None of the parties putting this deal together have shown they can be trusted to put anything other than their own self interests first.

“This deal deserves big, huge scrutiny and detailed answers to serious questions before any legislative action is taken or public resources committed.”

One Wisconsin Now is a statewide communications network specializing in effective earned media and online organizing to advance progressive leadership and values.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.