Governor skeptical on jobs vow
Governor takes ‘show me’ stance on jobs promise during CNBC interview
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers takes ‘show me’ stance on Foxconn’s promise during a TV interview.
Taking a “show me” stance, Gov. Tony Evers told CNBC that Foxconn Technology Group will hire 1,500 people at the factory it is building in Mount Pleasant, but suggested he is skeptical the company will fulfill its promise to create 13,000 Wisconsin jobs.
“Do I have confidence of that?” Evers replied when asked by the cable network’s Scott Cohn whether he thought Foxconn would ever hit the 13,000 jobs target. “I’m confident in what I see. And what I see is a plant that’s going to employ about 1,500 people.”
Foxconn, meanwhile, reiterated Tuesday its pledge to create 13,000 jobs — a pledge that has been increasingly questioned as the company has changed its plans, but one Foxconn has stuck with consistently.
In the interview, which took place June 27 and was posted on the CNBC website Tuesday, Evers spoke in greater detail about Foxconn than he generally has.
He noted that the company is building a much smaller display panel plant than it originally said it would — a fact that has been extensively reported over the last year — and said he visited the construction site in mid-June.
“The good news is we have clarity, we actually understand what’s going to be built and kind of when it’s going to be finished, the first phase,” Evers said.
He said he believed the factory would employ about 1,500, a figure other officials have advanced but which Foxconn itself has not cited.
That jobs number “certainly is less than the original thought,” Evers said, “although I believe that Foxconn is of the opinion that at some point in time they will have larger numbers of employees there.
“But for Wisconsin, 1,500 employees is important, and so we’re looking forward to working with them and make sure that we understand what they’re doing.”
Foxconn has said production at the factory will start in the fourth quarter of 2020. If the company did have 1,500 Wisconsin employees at that point, it would fall short of the 1,820 minimum needed to qualify for incentive payments for job creation.
Under its contract with the state, Foxconn stands to receive up to $1.5 billion for job creation. To get that sum, the firm would have to have 13,000 Wisconsin jobs by the end of 2022 and maintain that number through 2032.
Foxconn also can receive up to $1.35 billion in incentive payments for spending up to $9 billion to build and equip its planned Racine County manufacturing and research complex.
Including a $150 million sales tax break on construction material purchase, the state incentive package could total $3 billion.
Both the jobs and investment incentives will be decreased if Foxconn doesn’t hit the targets set down in the contract.
Spending by local governments on land and infrastructure for Foxconn, along with the cost of utility projects to be borne by ratepayers, meanwhile, totals another $1 billion or more. Beyond that, the state is spending hundreds of millions to widen I-94, a project that was planned anyway but was pushed up because of Foxconn.
Last November, Evers, a Democrat, defeated Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who spearheaded the state’s effort to bring Foxconn to Wisconsin.
As he has previously, Evers criticized the way Walker and his team negotiated with the Taiwan-based company, one of the world’s largest.
“It would have been better to think through exactly what it was going to be ahead of the time,” Evers told CNBC. “It became part of the campaign frankly — Donald Trump coming in saying it’s the eighth wonder of the world, all that stuff.”
“But that’s all in the past,” Evers added. “My goal is to make sure Wisconsin taxpayers are covered and they’re comfortable with the plan. And also I want them, Foxconn, to succeed in the state. It’s a major opportunity for us as far as employment.”