Walker pitches Wisconsin to Spanish companies after stiffing Spanish train maker Talgo

[lutefisk]

Walker should really win some sort of chutzpah award for trying to get Spanish companies to do business with Wisconsin after he was sued by a Spanish company for breaking a contract and refusing to pay.

Madison – Governor Scott Walker is leading a weeklong trade mission to Germany, France, and Spain focusing on increasing the state’s exports in those countries and encouraging European companies to invest in Wisconsin...

During the trade mission, the company executives will engage in targeted, one-on-one meetings with potential business partners coordinated by WEDC’s authorized trade representative network in those countries. Governor Walker and WEDC leaders will participate in meetings with European companies to discuss expansion or investment opportunities in Wisconsin...

Governor Walker will kick off a “Doing Business in the U.S.” roundtable in Spain where more than 20 Spanish companies will learn about opportunities to expand their businesses in Wisconsin and the benefits of investing in Wisconsin.

LINK

Talgo had a contract to build trains for Wisconsin under the administration of Gov. Jim Doyle, but Gov. Scott Walker cancelled it. After originally telling Talgo he would still use the trainsets for the Hiawatha line from Milwaukee to Chicago, Walker changed his mind. Walker and the Republican-led Legislature failed to build a maintenance facility for the trainsets (planned for the Menomonee Valley), making it impossible to put them into service. The state has since refused to pay Talgo for the trainsets.

Talgo CEO Antonio Perez blasted the governor in a story by Urban Milwaukee, complaining that “Gov. Walker does not keep his word. It’s like we’re talking about a Third World country, where people don’t have respect for their contracts.”

Talgo has sued the state for breach for contract, claiming it is owed $65.9 million. If the company prevails, taxpayers would pay Talgo the money and still forfeit the trains.

LINK

[DFW]

1. At a time when the Euro is near record lows against the dollar

And therefore, American exports denominated in Dollars are 20% more expensive to Europeans than they were a year ago, Walker's timing can be described as less than impeccable. Indeed, right up there with his tact and trustworthiness, which, as the Spaniards have noted, is hovering right around zero.

[AdHocSolver]

2. Wisconsin governor Walker displays his foreign polcy credentials.

Walker not only cheated Talgo out of the money owed for the trains they built for the state of Wisconsin, he cheated the citizens of Wisconsin out of approximately $820,000,000 from the federal government for the beginning of a high speed rail system that would have created jobs and increased state revenue without raising taxes on current residents.

This increased tax revenue from new jobs and businesses would have substantially reduced, if not eliminated, the state deficits without costing the citizens of Wisconsin one extra dime.

Moreover, a portion of the $820,000,000 refused by Walker would have come from the Federal taxes paid by Wisconsinites being returned to Wisconsin to create jobs in Wisconsin.

So, in spite of these and other examples of fiscal, financial, and legal malfeasance, the voters in Wisconsin elected him twice.

Since being reelected, Walker has begun implementing his plan to gut education. Evidently, Walker believes that this will provide incentives for businesses to relocate to Wisconsin.

While recent American political history has shown that incompetence and stupidity are not necessarily a hindrance, why should one believe that foreign businesses would be eager to do business with the likes of Walker?

[MBS]

3. thanks for this summary.

He's done so much damage to the state of Wisconsin that it's gotten hard for me to keep track of all the details. Thanks for reminding me again of all the ways in which his outrageous refusal of the high-speed train initiative, and his latest outrageous plans to gut the University of Wisconsin, have hurt the citizens of this state. (Not to mention his Koch-funded damage to the environment, in a state that was the birthplace of the conservation movement). He is AWFUL . Plus, he doesn't have any charm or sense of humor that I can see. For the life of me, I can't figure out his supposed appeal even to the right wing. God help us if he ever won national office. It's bad enough what he's done to Wisconsin.