It’s no secret that Wisconsin’s Democrat gubernatorial candidates have built their campaigns around opposing a deal bringing thousands of jobs to the Badger State, but a new report shows that one of them only sought information to discredit the deal for his own political gain, before announcing his opposition. E-mails reported on by the Washington Free Beacon reveal that Democrat candidate Dana Wachs only sought information on the “risks” of Wisconsin’s deal with Foxconn Technology Group, which promises to bring thousands of jobs to the state. To make matters worse for Wachs, more emails reveal that he had little to do with the “Good Jobs” amendment to the Foxconn deal’s legislation that he regularly touts on the campaign trail.
While Governor Scott Walker was working to secure thousands of jobs for Wisconsin workers, Wachs was busy looking for information to undermine him, clearly in hopes of bolstering his lackluster gubernatorial campaign. If Wachs is willing to put his own ambitions ahead of Wisconsin families, he doesn’t belong anywhere near the governor’s mansion in 2018.
A Democratic candidate for governor in Wisconsin, one of the biggest critics of a deal bringing thousands of jobs to the state, only sought information on the ‘risks’ of the deal before coming out in opposition, documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show.
The candidate also appears to have done little work on an amendment to the Foxconn legislation that he regularly touts.
Dana Wachs, a state assemblyman who was the first Democratic candidate to oppose legislation supporting Taiwanese tech company Foxconn building a factory in Wisconsin, called it a ‘bad deal’ shortly after Republican Gov. Scott Walker approved the $3 billion incentive package for the company to build a factory in the state…
Emails obtained by the Free Beacon show that Wachs sent just one email seeking only the ‘risks’ of the deal.
‘Contact this group [Wisconsin Safety Council] to find out what the manufacturing process risks of Foxconn will be,’ Wachs wrote in an August 10 email to staffers Bob Meyer and Leonard Riley…
This was the only email that Wachs sent in relation to his work with Foxconn, which was initially obtained using open records requests. On August 13, days after the email was sent, Wachs announced his opposition.
Wachs regularly touts his ‘Good Jobs’ amendment to Gov. Scott Walker’s Foxconn legislation, which he co-authored with Democratic State Rep. Christine Sinicki.
Emails show that Sinicki’s office appears to have done almost all of the work on the amendment despite Wachs being its coauthor.
State Rep. Sinicki sent an email on August 1 to legislative assembly Democrats giving them a ‘heads up’ on the amendments.
Three days later, on August 4, Mike Pearson, a staffer in Sinicki’s office, sent an email to Meyer and Riley in Wachs office informing them that had sent out a Foxconn release to the Wheeler Report, WisPolitics, Journal Sentinel, and a few local papers.
An hour later, Pearson sent another email to Meyer and Riley with a quick summary of two Foxconn amendments and told them to let him know if they can provide any further information.
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