SORRY, YOUR “PANTS ON FIRE!”
(MADISON)—Today, Senator Tim Carpenter made the following statement:
“Last Thursday, an Assembly Republican Committee Chair made a statement explaining that, ‘The public has every right to know if there are secret negotiations taking place that could undermine the legislature-approved contract with Foxconn.’ Because of this, the chair says, ‘[He] will be making an open records request of the Evers Administration…’ for government accountability and oversight.
This Republican must have been duped by the most recent fake news story from Speaker Vos and Majority Leader Fitzgerald, that Governor Tony Evers three weeks in office is to blame for Foxconn’s most recent failures. Politifact gave a rating of ‘Pants on Fire!’ to the Republican leaders’ latest venture into the Twilight Zone.
In his press release, the Republican Assemblyman exclaims, ‘I take the responsibility of keeping government open and accountable seriously.’ While he’s at it, he should launch an intensive investigation into former Governor Walker’s secret Kimberly Clarke negotiations held during his election campaign.
Legislators were warned that if the Governor’s Kimberly-Clark bill wasn’t passed immediately, the company would definitely move out of Wisconsin. Then miraculously, behind closed doors, a grand bargain was negotiated by Governor Walker, WEDC CEO Mark Hogan, and Kimberly-Clark officials.
This was right after the Republican controlled Legislature failed multiple times to pass a tax incentive bill for the paper products company. Coincidentally, this was during the time when millions of dollars were secretly flowing into Republican campaign coffers for the November 6th election. I’m sorry, but this whole thing doesn’t pass the smell test.
It is my sincere hope that Republicans will be open, transparent, and consistent. The citizens of our state deserve to know the exact details of how the outgoing Walker administration secretly negotiated a deal for Kimberly-Clark without any public discussion or input. Now that’s where transparency and open government should be investigated!”
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