GOPs and Foxconn try to dump their failure onto Evers

I was wondering what Robbin' Vos and Scott Fitzgerald might try to spin with the yesterday's reported implosion of the Foxconnn project in Vos' district. And they came out with a statement that was even more pathetic than I imagined.

“In a short time, Foxconn has made a positive impact across Wisconsin with more than 1,000 new jobs, an investment of $200 million, three innovation centers and one of the largest gifts ever of $100 million to the UW-Madison. We don’t blame Foxconn for altering plans in an everchanging technology business. It’s also not surprising Foxconn would rethink building a manufacturing plant in Wisconsin under the Evers Administration. The company is reacting to the wave of economic uncertainty that the new governor has brought with his administration. Governor Evers has an anti-jobs agenda and pledged to do away with a successful business incentive for manufacturing and agriculture.

ARE YOU SHITTING ME?? Trying to shove off the Fox-con’s failure onto a Governor who has been in office in 3 weeks and has a limited ability to oversee Foxconn because of what Vos and Fitzgerald passed in GOP their Power Grab during the lame duck session?? That’s insulting, and telling. WisGOPs don’t want to admit that they were the ones who set up this boondoggle, and they’re the ones that have gone out of their way to protect and make excuses for the Fox-con.

But then an article came out today in the Nikkei Business Review that seemed to back up some of what Vos and Fitz were claiming. In addition to Foxconn putting off construction of a plant in China due to worsening business conditions, the story also said Foxconn was suspending their construction project in Wisconsin because they don't know where things are going in the future.

The changes to the construction schedule follow last November's election defeat of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, a Trump ally who backed nearly $4 billion in tax breaks and other incentives for the project, people familiar with the matter said. Incumbent Gov. Evers, a Democrat, approached Foxconn to renegotiate some of the side deals his predecessor made with the company, three sources told Nikkei.

Wait, what are these “side deals”? Have these been revealed to the public, and have they been incorporated into any contracts to give state tax dollars to Foxconn? Seems like something worth investigating.

The Nikkei story mentions Foxconn’s statements from a couple of weeks ago, where they said shaky “global economic conditions” caused them to adjust their plans in Wisconsin. Combine that with a new Governor, and Nikkei says Foxconn is re-evaluating, with no final decisions made either way.

Foxconn does not plan to abandon the $10 billion project entirely, only halt it for further evaluation and discussion with the new governor, one of the sources said.

Local leaders in Racine, [near] where Foxconn's facility is built, issued a joint statement on Thursday, said they understood the challenge. "Foxconn must be nimble in responding to market changes to ensure the long-term success of their Wisconsin operations," they said.

However, they added that they expected the company would "meet its obligations to the state, county and village." (Surrrreee!)

Foxconn special assistant to chairman, Louis Woo, on Wednesday told Reuters that the company is reconsidering plans in Wisconsin, citing steep costs of TV manufacturing and labor in the U.S.

But the organization that oversees Foxconn’s contract with Wisconsin denied the claims in the Nikkei story.

Mark Hogan, CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., said Evers never sought to re-negotiate any element of the Foxconn project.

"I have been involved with the Foxconn project from day one and there never have been any side deals and the contract stands on its own," Hogan said Thursday. "In addition, there have been no attempts by either the company or the Evers’ or Walker administrations to renegotiate WEDC’s contract."

He said Evers and his administration "have done a very good job of reaching out to company officials and developing a relationship that will protect our taxpayers’ interests and at the same time, give Foxconn the ability to be successful in Wisconsin.”

Evers’ spokeswoman also denied that there had been meetings with Foxconn, and called out Fitz and Robbin’ for trying to deflect with the blame game and ignore the bigger issues going on.

Claims made today that @GovEvers has tried to renegotiate the Foxconn contract are false. It is unfortunate that Republicans would rather try to make headlines with political finger-pointing than work with the governor to protect Wisconsin taxpayers.

— Melissa Baldauff (@mbaldauff) January 31, 2019

But that's what they do, Melissa. Surely you know that, don't you? Same way the Fox-con was never a well-thought out economic development plan, but instead was an expensive gamble to distract from Walker's and WisGOP's bad jobs record before the 2018 election.

Although to be honest, I’ll be happier if Evers actually did meet with Foxconn and laid down some conditions. Because it means Evers would be sending the message that the free ride that Walker and WisGOP gave Foxconn in this scam is over. And if Foxconn decides to pack up and goes away as a result of that, my response is simple.

via GIPHY

As I’ve said before, the best thing that could happen for Wisconsin taxpayers is that Foxconn goes away now before even more money gets thrown down the drain that kicks back the facility costs and the small amount of salaries being paid back through actual checks sent to the company.

But there’s something fishy about how Vos, Fitz, and the Foxconn people seem to have a similar theme of “Evers is convincing Foxconn to leave” when WEDC and the Evers Administration say he hasn’t even met with them. It’s all too convenient, and leads me to think that Foxconn’s moves were in the works for a while, that Fitz and Vos (and likely Walker) knew about it well before Evers took office. Now they can use the new Governor as their excuse to avoid their responsibility for this boondoggle.

These guys (both WisGOPs and Foxconn execs) cannot be trusted to be honest about ANYTHING, and they need to be hammered within an inch of their existence on this, or else they'll just keep lying and deflecting. This is the same cynical BS Republicans pulled in 2009-2010, blaming Barack Obama and Jim Doyle for the job losses and unemployment that occurred because the economy collapsed under George Dubya Bush. And hey, it worked then for the GOP, they took power in the November 2010 elections to kick off the Age of Fitzwalkerstan that has messed up the state ever since.

So why wouldn't they pull out the same cynical playbook now? They figure the average dope won't know the difference, but will only know that things aren't working out with Foxconn, and will point their finger at the governor in office instead of the people who screwed it up.

We can't let Foxconn and WisGOP get away with the robbery that they have pulled on Wisconsinites, and we can't let them get away with blaming someone who had nothing to do with it. Not this time.