Scott Walker's missing Foxconn word

Since I'm trying to be thorough, will anyone who sees or reads that Scott Walker has used word the "subsidy" to describe the $3 billion in state funds he and his GOP legislative allies are handing Foxconn please send me the link?

I see in this Journal Sentinel story lede paragraph that said the "multi-billion subsidy bill" was approved by the Legislature:

MADISON – The state Senate on Tuesday approved a multibillion-dollar subsidy bill for a massive flat-screen plant even as Kenosha dropped its bid for the factory and its thousands of potential jobs. 

And here it is again - -  " Foxconn $3 billion subsidy bill" - - right there in last week' Wisconsin State Journal's summary piece headline: 

Foxconn $3 billion subsidy bill heads to Scott Walker's desk after passing Legislature

And David Haynes, former Journal Sentinel business editor and current editorial page editor  managed to use the word twice when running down the state's Foxconn checklist: 

Big checks to subsidize the cost of the factory: Done!

Big checks to subsidize the jobs: OK!

Unlimited Lake Michigan water: Check!

Suspension of some inconvenient state environmental rules: You bet!

Go straight to the state Supreme Court if sued and automatically stay lower court orders: Why not?

But darned if I can find it in Walker statements, or by project boosters, like this columnist who managed to write about Foxconn substitute "incentives" or "incentive package" six times in just a few paragraph.

I do remember that Walker opposed the federally-constructed, Obama-backed Midwest rail Amtrak extension from Milwaukee to Madison on fiscal grounds.

"The bottom line is, right now, I've seen no scenario where the taxpayers of the state of Wisconsin aren't gonna be on the hook for millions of dollars."

So a foot-stomping "no" to millions, but an enthusiastic "yes to "billions" - - linked only by their proximity to a campaign for Governor by the same candidate.

Sidebar:Walker overstated the Amtrak cost to state taxpayers - - laid out here - - so do not be surprised if he albs overstates the number of jobs Foxconn ever delivers.

Final sidebar: By the time Walker had finished destroying the Amtrak rail extension, Wisconsin taxpayers had handed the train manufacturer $50 million in equipment and legal costs for having broken a contract, with zero return to taxpayers.

That's not a subsidy, or even an incentive package: it's a gift.

Anyway - - maybe the subsidy word sounds dirty, like "Democrat," or collides with language in the Wisconsin GOP platform like "we encourage proposals supporting free markets and minimizing government interference in the marketplace."

And reminds people that you turned down federal Medicaid expansion funding because it was bad fiscally for states and ideologically for recipients:

 “I’m not talking about having the same subsidy from the government...All those above [the poverty level], we transitioned them to the marketplace....They’re better off than they were before. The government just giving them something, even in the form of a subsidy, isn’t necessarily good for them. "

Or transparently describing the Foxconn subsidies as subsidies would flat out give the lie to Walker's repeated pledge against using government to pick winners and losers.

Regardless - - if you see something from Walker about subsidies, or how he might resolve the contradiction between the phantom millions he saved us from spending on Amtrak while he throwing away $50 million actual dollars, or the deletion of "subsidy" fromths vocabulary, let me know so I can add it to this archive I'm trying to make timely, accurate and complete.

Thanks.

 

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