Hintz demands greater transparency from Foxconn
Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz is calling for the Foxconn Technology Group to be more transparent with its development in the state and says, “Foxconn isn’t creating 13,000 jobs.”
“The jobs number was no longer relevant to any future project the minute Foxconn determined it would no longer be constructing a Gen. 10.5 plan,” Hintz stated. “Continuing to state this number as a ‘pledge’ or ‘commitment’ in statements undermines the credibility of whatever future project could happen.”
In an op-ed published in the Wisconsin State Journal Hintz criticized Foxconn for changing their plans from building an LCD flat-screen Generation 10.5 facility to a Generation 6 and the secrecy of what will be produced at its facility in Mount Pleasant.
“Foxconn has no actual plans to produce Gen 6 LCD panels,” Hintz wrote. “The default position from Foxconn proponents and some in the media is that Foxconn will now be producing Gen 6 LCD panels. But nothing is being constructed now that remotely supports the production of LCD panels.”
Foxconn plans to build a massive manufacturing campus in Mount Pleasant, and the company also has plans to create “innovation centers” in multiple parts of the state.
Throughout the development process, Foxconn has maintained that it will hire 13,000 people in Wisconsin.
However the non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau has raised some concerns about awarding tax credits for job creation related to the development and is particularly worried about tax credits going to work being done outside the state.
The bureau did recommend awarding tax credits for capital improvements made done in the development area in Mount Pleasant.
Foxconn has been in a dispute with the state over what can count toward the state tax credits. In 2017 the state
Legislature passed a bill that could provide up to $2.85 billion in state tax credits to Foxconn if it met certain hiring and capital investment benchmarks.
In 2018, Foxconn did not hire enough people to meet the threshold for state tax credits in 2019, but the company believes it has hired enough employees to receive the credits.
Hintz said Foxconn has motivations that are “political, not economic.”
“Maintaining favorable trade status with the Trump administration has always been the larger priority for Foxconn,” Hintz said.
The state has spent millions of dollars on improving road projects around the Foxconn area.
“This ‘driveway to Foxconn’ comes at the expense of other state highway projects around the state,” Hintz said.
Hintz closed the op-ed by saying Foxconn needs to be held accountable and “be transparent about its plans.”
“The longer Foxconn is vague about its plans for any viable project in Wisconsin, the more Wisconsin taxpayers should be concerned,” Hintz said.
Hintz sits on the board of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. which oversees the progress of the development.
Hintz took over as minority leader in the Assembly after state Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, voted in favor of the tax incentive package and Barca resigned from his position. Gov. Tony Evers appointed Barca as secretary of revenue, which oversees tax credits given to companies by the state.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, RRochester, whose district includes the Foxconn area, disputed Hintz’s view on the project saying, “The column was an opinion piece trying to advance an antiFoxconn narrative and not based on facts.”
Vos pointed to the millions of dollars in contracts to area construction firms as evidence that residents are benefiting from the project.
Vos took issue with the “driveway to Foxconn” phrase, and said that Hintz misrepresents the Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo he cites in his op-ed.
The Journal Sentinel has sought comments from officials with Foxconn.