Walker downplays the Foxconn deal as campaign gets underway.

Governor launched his re-election bid without mentioning $3 billion accord

MADISON - Scott Walker said the state would ink a $3 billion contract this week with Asian tech giant Foxconn Technology Group, even as he downplayed the deal and pointed to other jobs being created through his administration.

As Walker launches his bid for a third term and as the polling on the Foxconn project has been lackluster so far, the governor has taken a different tone on the bid to bring a flat-screen plant to Racine County.

After spending months touting the up to 13,000 jobs at the proposed plant, the GOP governor didn’t mention Foxconn at his 2018 re-election kickoff on Sunday. He kept his distance again on Monday when conservative talk radio host Jerry Bader asked Walker about Sunday’s omission.

“Those 13,000 jobs are no more important than the 13 jobs that we helped the small business (create) in Green Bay or Superior or La Crosse,” Walker told Bader, who is based in Green Bay. “Whether it’s 13 jobs, 130 jobs, 1,300 jobs or 13,000 jobs, they’re all important to us.”

A survey last month from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling found 34% of registered voters statewide supported the deal and 41% opposed it, with 26% undecided.

A Marquette University Law School poll found that 54% of voters thought the Foxconn facility would substantially improve the Milwaukee-area economy, while 37% said it would not.

But Marquette surveyed only voters living in southeastern Wisconsin, where the project would provide the most benefits. Even there, 48% thought the state incentives to Foxconn would be more than the plant is worth, while 38% said the facility would provide that much or more in benefits to the state.

Scot Ross, head of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, noted Walker regularly gets polls of his own.

“If he’s not mentioning Foxconn, it’s because his internal polling is even less favorable,” Ross said.

State GOP spokesman Alec Zimmerman scoffed at that. Democrats were foolish to celebrate just because Walker was “talking about the many employers creating jobs — as opposed to just Foxconn,” he said.

Walker did tell Bader that the Foxconn deal would be approved when the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. board takes it up on Wednesday after postponing a vote on Oct. 17.

“The WEDC is going to sign off on it by the middle of the week. We should sign it by the end of the week,” the governor said.

On Friday, WEDC Chief Executive Officer Mark Hogan bowed to pressure from directors and lawmakers who said the agency board should get a copy of the proposed contract before voting.

Two WEDC board members, Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) and Rep. Dana Wachs (D-Eau Claire), said they had received the contract Monday and were reviewing it. Wachs said the contract should also be released publicly before the vote rather than after.

“Who’s taking the risk here? The taxpayers. It seems like the taxpayers have a right to see this as well,” said Wachs, who is running in the Democratic primary to challenge Walker next year.

Foxconn plans to invest as much as $10 billion in the Village of Mount Pleasant for a plant that would manufacture liquid crystal displays and employ up to 13,000 people. In exchange, Walker and lawmakers have agreed to give the Taiwanese tech giant up to $2.85 billion in cash payments and $150 million in tax breaks.