Thanks to State Democratic Senator Tim Carpenter's hair on fire warning about the Foxconn contract being approved by the WEDC board (they would have rubberstamped the contract with a little tweaking), we would not have had the chance to see the whole contract word for word.
But Democrats were accused of being partisan for attacking Walker deal. Nooooo....
Credit where Credit is Due: Democrats again proved that they can manage government better than any Republican in the legislature because they're not in the pocket of big special interests....like Foxconn.
My jaw dropped when the Wisconsin Public Radio news coverage said that both Republicans and Democrats were calling for a review of the whole Foxconn contract, and not just the basic outline WEDC commonly allowed. NO!!!! The Democrats called for a full review. Just check out the timeline here:
JS- Oct. 24, 2017: Last week, Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee), a member of the WEDC board and opponent of the deal, said the vote delay was caused by an unspecified issue "very, very major to the contract. They didn't do their due diligence," he said of WEDC.
State Journal- Oct 25, 2017: WEDC board member Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, declined last week in an interview with the Wisconsin State Journal to disclose details of why a scheduled vote on the contract was delayed. But he told the newspaper the issue was a “nuclear bomb” that would have left taxpayers exposed ... Hogan told board members last week that the way the deal was structured the agency couldn’t guarantee it could protect taxpayers if the company violated the agreement ... “We could have given them all this money and we wouldn’t have been able to get it back,” Carpenter said.
Democrats on the Legislature’s Joint Audit Committee urged Hogan to release the contract details publicly before the board votes on it. Carpenter has asked that the WEDC board be allowed to review the contract before voting, but as is common practice, the board will only vote on a staff review and summary of the deal. Hogan declined to change the process while defending the agency’s record on contracts.
Then, after Tim Carpenter raised the Red Flag, Republicans noticed:
State Journal- November 1, 2017: Republican leaders say WEDC board should review Foxconn contract!
Democrats get Screwed Again: Now, it looks like "both sides" were calling for review of the whole contract:
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have pushed for the WEDC board to get access to the full contract in recent weeks. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation will give its board members more information than usual about the pending contract for Wisconsin's $3 billion deal with Foxconn, CEO Mark Hogan told board members via email ... Typically, board members only get to see a staff memo outlining the contract.Later this evening, WPR news reported that the Republican leaders of Senate and Assembly got what they wanted, no mention of the Democrats, getting a total review the entire contract. Amazing.
Just got done watching WKOW news on the old DVR,where Greg Neumann did give credit to the Democrats for calling for the review:
Sounds like WPR is worried about WisGOP'S cutting their funding.
ReplyDeleteMake no mistake, GOPs wouldn't have done anything about this unless Dems raised the issue, and the polling showed that Wisconsinites recognize that the Fox-con is a SCAM.
Jake formerly of the LP