Crony Capitalism of Walker, Hammes, Foxconn
Walker donor gets $100 million Foxconn project for which his company has no experience.
Jon Hammes. Photo by Michael Horne.
The announcement on May 14 that the Hammes Co. in Milwaukee is the chief planner for the Foxconn project is an example of crony capitalism at its worst.
The Hammes Co. is owned by Jon Hammes, a buddy and big donor of Scott Walker’s, who now stands to make more than one hundred million dollars off the $4.5 billion taxpayer-funded boondoggle.
Hammes is Walker’s campaign finance chairman for his current reelection bid.
And he was finance chairman for Walker’s hapless presidential campaign.
He and his wife, Ann, have given about $25,000 to Walker’s campaigns for governor over the last eight years.
Jon Hammes has also given about $20,000 to the Republican Party of Wisconsin over the last 18 years.
And Jon and Ann Hammes have given about $285,000 to the Republican National Committee over the last 14 years.
Now, for his dutiful service to Walker and the Republican Party, Hammes gets to cash in big time.
Well, you might say, maybe his company is the most qualified for the job.
But the Milwaukee Business Journal says: “Hammes Company of Brookfield built a national reputation for planning and developing health care and commercial real estate but no previous engagements compare with the newest.”
The Hammes deal is the latest — and the most grotesque — example of how Scott Walker has turned the state of Wisconsin into an ATM for his pals and donors, an ATM full of our tax dollars.
This is not democracy. This is thievery.
Matthew Rothschild is executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
More about the Foxconn Facility
- Foxconn Acquires 20 More Acres in Mount Pleasant, But For What? - Joe Schulz - Jan 7th, 2025
- Murphy’s Law: What Are Foxconn’s Employees Doing? - Bruce Murphy - Dec 17th, 2024
- With 1,114 Employees, Foxconn Earns $9 Million in Tax Credits - Joe Schulz - Dec 13th, 2024
- Mount Pleasant, Racine in Legal Battle Over Water After Foxconn Failure - Evan Casey - Sep 18th, 2024
- Biden Hails ‘Transformative’ Microsoft Project in Mount Pleasant - Sophie Bolich - May 8th, 2024
- Microsoft’s Wisconsin Data Center Now A $3.3 Billion Project - Jeramey Jannene - May 8th, 2024
- We Energies Will Spend $335 Million on Microsoft Development - Evan Casey - Mar 6th, 2024
- Foxconn Will Get State Subsidy For 2022 - Joe Schulz - Dec 11th, 2023
- Mount Pleasant Approves Microsoft Deal on Foxconn Land - Evan Casey - Nov 28th, 2023
- Mount Pleasant Deal With Microsoft Has No Public Subsidies - Evan Casey - Nov 14th, 2023
Read more about Foxconn Facility here
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This is only the beginning….the spiral has started.
Career Politician Scott Walker and republicans are as corrupt and crooked as they come folks.
Dump Walker 2018
Dump ALL republicans in 2018
With all of the money injected into our corner of the world…this is inane ad placement. Name recognition is all that is being paid for. Repetition. They are counting on nobody noticing. Think of the truly good civic organizations that could benefit.
On top of all of Walker and republican’s pay to play schemes and corruption… Foxconn reportedly scaling back plans for Wisconsin display factory! Walker screwed us all and nobody is paying attention! No more corporate welfare for Walker and republican’s Big Corporate campaugn donors!
https://9to5mac.com/2018/05/23/foxconn-wisconsin-factory-plans/
Vote Walker and all these republican bums out in November!
Career Politician Scott Walker FoxCONned Wisconsin! No more massive, 4.5 Billion in Corporate Welfare for Chinese companies while we can’t even drive on our own roads thanks to all the Scottholes everywhere. Too bad we can’t fix them. Republicans gave all our money and our children’s money to China.
http://host.madison.com/ct/opinion/column/martha-laning-foxonn-is-a-costly-walker-campaign-stunt/article_3c728668-be00-5ee3-8787-0d27414b7b5f.html
Dump Walker 2018!
Let’s pave the roads and build a real economy, not just try to buy one from China in an election year!
Seriously, does every single sentence have to be a separate paragraph???