Former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker impressed Republican leadership with his ability to decimate his constituents’ lives while serving big business interests. The Republican Party told itself and traditional media news outlets that Scott Walker was going to be the next president, he wasn’t. In fact, Gov. Scott Walker wasn’t going to be governor anymore, as the majority of voting Wisconsinites decided to get rid of him this past November. One of Walker’s glaring legacies is the scam deal with Foxconn. The deal made big promises of jobs and industry being brought into the Badger state, with just a “few” tax concessions.
First, there was Louis Woo, special assistant to Foxconn CEO Terry Gou, announcing a new headquarters and “innovation center” in Milwaukee. Days later, Gou was standing in a field 40 minutes south in Mount Pleasant, digging gold shovels into the dirt with Walker, Paul Ryan, and President Trump, who declared Foxconn’s factory the “eighth wonder of the world.” Then it was off to Green Bay, where Foxconn announced another innovation center, and then Eau Claire, where Foxconn announced two more — a full “technology hub.”
Those tax concessions, it turned out, meant that Wisconsin would not be out of the red, in subsidies and costs to tax payers, for about 25 years. That’s what conservatives do, they make bad business deals, take a big paycheck in private life, and then blame the people brought in to fix the mess. Of course, the Foxconn deal has been a disaster of epic proportions, as the almost 13,000 promised jobs has now turned into something looking like 1,000, and the Taiwanese company isn’t even building the factory that Trump and Walker touted to the world.
But never you fear. Foxconn did promise that there would be those “innovation centers,” across the great state of Wisconsin, where new employees would be doing … something.
About that. Back in March, the Verge went around to check out these “innovation centers,” and guess what? There didn’t seem to be anybody home. At the time the Verge pointed out that the big announcements of these Foxconn centers coincided with lowering popular opinion of Gov. Walker. At the time, Foxconn executives told the Verge not to worry. Those centers were innovating like you couldn’t believe. It’s May, and the Verge has checked back in with Walker and Foxconn’s “innovation centers.”
One month after Yeung’s comments and promise of a correction, every innovation center in Wisconsin is still empty, according to public documents and sources involved with the innovation center process. Foxconn has yet to purchase the Madison building Yeung announced, according to Madison property records. No renovation or occupancy permits have been taken out for Foxconn’s Racine innovation center, though a permit has been taken out for work on the roof of another property Foxconn bought for “smart city” initiatives. There has been no activity in Foxconn’s Green Bay building, either.
That’s what you call a con job.