State Sen. Lena Taylor
Press Release

Walker Accepts $3 Billion Liability, Rejects Accountability

"Giving WEDC the keys to the largest state giveaway to a foreign company in U.S. history is irresponsible and inappropriate."

By - Nov 10th, 2017 02:37 pm

(MADISON) – Today, Governor Scott Walker finalized the $3 billion contract with Foxconn. During the limited opportunities for public input, Wisconsin residents and Democratic members brought up troubling concerns regarding the deal. As the ranking Democratic member of the Joint Committee on Finance, Senator Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) shared her concerns regarding the Foxconn deal’s exemptions from key environmental protections, insufficient clawbacks to protect taxpayers, inability to connect areas with high unemployment to the alleged jobs, and the overall lack of accountability.

“This is our water, our tourism, and $3 billion dollars we are talking about,” said Senator Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee). “People love our lakes and farms, who would want to visit when there is all kinds of chemical gunk from this plant? Who is paying to clean it up? We are.”

On Wednesday, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) board approved the Foxconn contract without an opportunity to review the language. Democratic members of the board voted against the contract, citing WEDC’s troubled history of mismanagement, noncompliance with agency policies, and failed incentive packages. In 2015, the Wisconsin State Journal reported WEDC made $124.4 million in incentive awards to 27 companies without proper review. Included in this is a $62.5 million award to Kohl’s on the condition that Kohl’s create 3,000 jobs. Kohl’s created just 473 jobs. Recent audits, including the May 2017 audit, found that WEDC failed to verify job creation numbers and wages, and that the agency could not be certain about the accuracy of its online data.

“Giving WEDC the keys to the largest state giveaway to a foreign company in U.S. history is irresponsible and inappropriate. I am concerned, given WEDC’s past challenges with verifying job creation, that the agency will not be able to hold Foxconn accountable to the staff-reviewed contract the WEDC board approved.”

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.

Mentioned in This Press Release

Recent Press Releases by State Sen. Lena Taylor

Taylor Statement on Off-Duty Officer Shooting

State Senator and Milwaukee Mayoral Candidate Lena Taylor statement

Leave a Reply

You must be an Urban Milwaukee member to leave a comment. Membership, which includes a host of perks, including an ad-free website, tickets to marquee events like Summerfest, the Wisconsin State Fair and the Florentine Opera, a better photo browser and access to members-only, behind-the-scenes tours, starts at $9/month. Learn more.

Join now and cancel anytime.

If you are an existing member, sign-in to leave a comment.

Have questions? Need to report an error? Contact Us