Gov Evers Maintains Silence on Foxconn Pull-out as Atty Matt Flynn Blasts Republicans and Inaction

Wisconsin citizens need to
poke Gov Tony Evers (D)
with a stick because this
guy looks like he spent
the last week outside, lying
down, being bit by animals.
Did Evers read the news
about Foxconn's jobs pull-out?

Bait-and-Switch $Billion Boondoggle Draws Not One Word from New Wisconsin Governor

Madison, Wisconsin — Wisconsin State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) and Republicans are doing most of the talking following news Foxconn reneged on an agreement to site a manufacturing plant in southeastern Wisconsin.

What was hailed 18 months ago as the start of "a Midwestern manufacturing renaissance" (NYT) is now just another lie politicians and corporate execs tell the public when they take massive public subsidies.

Following the Reuters blockbuster exclusive on Foxconn, Republicans yesterday came out of the gate fast, repeating an old lie saying Foxconn's decision was made because of "uncertainty" with the new Gov Tony Evers (D) administration. But not even Foxconn touches that line.

What is certain is the silence from Tony Evers — dead silence. As in not one word from Evers.

No Evers appearing before a press conference, saying 'ask me anything.'

This asks the question, did Tony Evers spend the last 72 hours outside, lying down in the Wisconsin deep freeze? Someone should poke his body with a stick and see if we get any sign of life:

C'mon Tony. Wake up; you okay? Foxconn is pulling out the promised 1,000s of blue collar jobs, dude! What are your orders?

- Hold their feet to the fire! Make Foxconn good corporate citizens.

What Wisconsin has from Tony Evers is one tweet from the state Dept. of Administration reading:

In the coming weeks, the Evers Administration will continue to commit time, resources, and personnel to ensure that the interests of Wisconsin workers and taxpayers are protected and promoted by our approach to the Foxconn project.

In the coming weeks, the Evers Administration will continue to commit time, resources, and personnel to ensure that the interests of Wisconsin workers and taxpayers are protected and promoted by our approach to the Foxconn project. pic.twitter.com/3pBhRBTRfq

— Wisconsin DOA (@WisconsinDOA) January 30, 2019

These Tony Evers guys are on the case. The Associated Press reports also that a top Evers aide, Joel Brennan, says he was "surprised" by the Foxconn story.

That's little comfort for a state already on the hook for $100s of millions no matter what the Taiwanese corporation decides is best for its shareholders.

I asked Jake Edwards, a Wisconsin economic-political writer, how much Wisconsin was on the hook for. Edwards replied in rough calculations:

Depends if Foxconn gets 1,000 people working on the project by end of this year (not necessarily in Racine Co).

If they get that, my quick count is

15% of facility cost for 2/7 of total subsidy (estimated at $386 mil)

$28 mil for job credits
$912 mil in local subsidies and infrastructure
$400 mil in cost and debt for I-94
$130 mil to upgrade local roads into state highways (which took away $90 mil from other state projects)
$150 mil in sales tax cuts for construction materials

That comes close to $2 billion. And Foxconn says they can't make it even with all this help?

Tony Evers resembles an undulating mass that when taking shape congeals into a form indistinguishable from a hastily constructed snowball, the kind made from powdered snow, and just as revealing of the administration's position on the Foxconn-Wisconsin contract.

Who is defending Wisconsin's interest now that Tony Evers is out of commission?

Attorney Matt Flynn took to Resistance Radio yesterday, Jan 30, and offered a harsh assessment of Foxconn, Republicans and Tony Evers' performance thus far.

One Wisconsin Now is hitting every lie emitted by Republicans.

In the absence of Tony Evers, Matt Flynn's analyses, specific challenge to Republican
Speaker Vos and Evers on social media, and calling out Wisconsin Republicans for their numerous lies about Foxconn's siphoning of Wisconsin continue:

I've read the contract, but apparently you, @repvos, and @ScottWalker haven't - or you wouldn't continue to push it.

They've already benefited from infrastructure work at taxpayer expense. And why is there a clawback provision if they aren't getting money before they perform? https://t.co/Xm3C7Xgnup

— Matt Flynn (@ForwardWFlynn) January 31, 2019

To protect Wisconsin, Flynn is advocating a complex legal strategy against Foxconn in multiple courts by multiple parties that includes a private lawsuit on Constitutional grounds, and a public lawsuit by Wisconsin officials for breach of contract.

Flynn made his comments on Resistance Radio (Devil's Advocate radio) yesterday.

@ForwardWFlynn now on @devilradio:
What happens now? What options do #WI have to clean up the #Foxconn deal?
1) Private lawsuit on Constitutional grounds
2) State lawsuit based on breach of contract.

— AnonyMissBadger (@AnonyMissBadger) January 30, 2019

@ForwardWFlynn now on @devilradio:@ScottWalker wanted #Wisconsin to believe he was a businessman, making this deal as a businessman. He was not a businessman. He was a chicken walking into a negotiation with Colonel Sanders.#Foxconn #WI

— AnonyMissBadger (@AnonyMissBadger) January 30, 2019

Said Flynn in part, taking questions on Resistance Radio (Hour Two of two hours with Flynn on the Devil's Advocate) on the heavily criticized Foxconn contract that draws national ridicule:

This is not a precise [Foxconn-Wisconsin] contract. If you read it, the claw-back is very ambiguous: 'Use best efforts' and all this kind of stuff. And the political establishment is supporting them [Foxconn]. And I think that's wrong.

This is not a crisply worded contract. The people that negotiated it had no business doing it, and they didn't have the ability to do it.

Asked if to explain how the paucity of job creation and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation's authority to amend the contract ought to concern the Wisconsin people, Flynn said:

The Republican Party and WEDC [Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation] don't have a clue on how to explain this contract because they got taken to the cleaners.

So, I'll explain it just right now. And that is that a very, very minimal production of jobs, that could be Chinese engineers, will trigger a large and disproportionate [public] payment. That's very concerning.

The second thing that I want to say is about the amendment. The reason for the lameduck session to take this out of Tony Evers' hands, until September, was precisely to manipulate and defend breaches of contract against us.

The Republican Party will injure this state to benefit their donors, and to appease their large donors so they don't run Primaries against them. ...

At some point somebody in this administration has got to get off the dime and start action for breach of contract. Period, end of story. ...

Mount Pleasant and Racine are on the hook for over $900-million, $900-million! The tax base down there can't support $90-million; it's a small tax base.

And the people of Racine; everybody says, 'oh, they want this thing, [Foxconn].' They don't want this thing. I saw the citizens at the Mount Pleasant Board meeting. I've spoken in Racine. And nobody wants this thing.

I think that the people down there that voted for it, Democrats, made a mistake thinking that that's what they wanted.

But we're all Americans, we 're all Wisconsinites. 

The Chinese come over here, try to get our intellectual property —  we're not putting up with it.

If Matt Flynn, a private citizen who gets paid nothing, is spending hours and hours warning about the Foxconn boondoggle, and fielding questions from the Wisconsin people, why in the hell is the sitting governor, Tony Evers, not out doing the same?