Newsmakers, July 19, 2018

While some are praising this week’s announcement that Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn is planning an innovation center in downtown Eau Claire, three Democrats running in the Aug. 14 primary for the 31st state Senate District remain critical of state and local tax incentives for the company.

The 31st state Senate District includes the city of Eau Claire and all or parts of Buffalo, Trempealeau, Pierce, Pepin, Dunn, Eau Claire, Clark, Monroe and Jackson counties. Since 2006, the seat has been held by state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma, who is running for governor rather than re-election to the state Senate.

As details were coming out Monday about Foxconn’s expansion to Eau Claire, the candidates were reacting to them during a debate in Eau Claire, and none of the Democrats said it was going to be a positive for their district, or for the state of Wisconsin.

“It (Foxconn) has always been a political ploy,” said candidate and former state Rep. Jeff Smith, of Eau Claire. “$4.5 billion tax dollars and yet our roads are falling apart. We all were on a tour recently where transportation people told us it would cost $4 billion to repair our roads up to standard. Isn’t that a coincidence. So, instead of helping our current entrepreneurs, businesses and workers with our own roads that we pay taxes for, they’re pouring this money into a foreign company.”

Smith, who represented the 93rd Assembly District from 2007 to 2011, calls Foxconn’s recent announcements that it’s opening innovation centers in Eau Claire and Green Bay, a headquarters in downtown Milwaukee and a giant manufacturing plant in the Village of Mount Pleasant “corruption at the highest level in Wisconsin.” Smith accuses Republican Gov. Scott Walker of trying to get votes from different parts of the state with the announcements.

Trempealeau County supervisor and self-employed carpenter Jon Schultz, of Arcadia, said promises of jobs don’t always pan out.

“Foxconn itself as a company, they have a reputation of really not fulfilling promises. It’s hard to give a lot of credence to this,” Schultz said. “Frankly, this press release and the news today, it literally feels like Scott Walker and Foxconn are following the campaign script that Hillary Clinton probably should have followed, in terms of where they’re visiting and making announcements.”

Former legislative staffer and candidate Steve Boe, of Taylor, is director of local affairs for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau. He’s concerned the Village of Mount Pleasant is using eminent domain to declare private land where Foxconn is building its manufacturing plant as blighted.

“Not because we’re going to build a highway or road that will be beneficial to everybody, but we’re going to give it to a private entity, not only a private entity, a foreign private company to build a business,” he said. “I just think that is the wrong precedence to set within this state, that we are going to take fantastic farmland, good homes, and then just bulldoze those down to give it to a private entity.”

In a separate interview, Green Party candidate Aaron Camacho, of Fountain City, said the approach to the economy is also her top issue and she also questions the Foxconn deal.

“I agree that we need to be looking for business and attract people to create businesses here in our state. But why are we not encouraging our local community members to utilize the gifts that our state are still willing to give the big corporations?,” she said.

Camacho and Republican Mel Pittman, of Plum City, (who declined an interview) will appear on the Nov. 6 general election ballot along with the Democrat who wins the Aug. 14 primary.