WEDC Won’t Release Foxconn Contract Until After It Takes Hold

Wisconsin’s job creation agency says it will not publicly release the state’s contract with Foxconn until after it takes effect. The subject came up Tuesday, when the Legislature’s Joint Audit Committee held a public hearing on the latest review of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation — and some Democrats questioned whether the agency could handle such a large package. The W-E-D-C board is expected to approve a deal as early as next month that spells out its assistance for Foxconn’s ten-billion dollar L-C-D screen plant at Mount Pleasant — in exchange for up to 13-thousand jobs. The W-E-D-C Board normally gets summaries of the agency’s “enterprise zone” awards — but Senate Democrat Tim Carpenter of Milwaukee says taxpayers, in his words, “must be protected” before the agency “turns on the spigot and the taxpayer dollars start to flow.” W-E-D-C officials say they’ve updated the board on their negotiations with Foxconn throughout its process.