Walker gets the blame for poorly prepping Foxconn

[Updated from 5/14/18. The company may claim to be surprised, but Walker bears the blame for the backlash which is rooted in his anti-clean water/air and land actions and decisions by his Foxconn-compliant agencies - -  all of which he knew was coming.] 
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Gov. Walker says Foxconn is baffled by objections to its Racine County project, but it seems to me that Walker poorly prepped the company he aggressively wooed.

“They’re just confused, as you can imagine anyone would be from outside this state..."

No doubt Walker didn't urge Foxconn to study the Wisconsin Constitution before it began excavating on wetland-rich land to understand that water rights and access are so important here that they're embedded in the state constitution, according to information posed by the Walker-run DNR.

It's called the Public Trust Doctrine. Sounds rather pivotal, no?

The public trust doctrine

 

Wisconsin's Waters Belong to Everyone

Wisconsin lakes and rivers are public resources, owned in common by all Wisconsin citizens under the state's Public Trust Doctrine. Based on the state constitution, this doctrine has been further defined by case law and statute. 

Did they miss the uproar over the state's new embrace of wetland-filling which was piled on top of special privileges for Foxconn to do the same, and more to build into lakes and re-route streams without permits on the Racine County site it plans to plow, pave and otherwise disrupt?

And did Walker suggest that Foxconn take note of the multiple references to environmental preservation and priorities in the DNR mission statement?

To protect and enhance our natural resources:our air, land and water;our wildlife, fish and forestsand the ecosystems that sustain all life. 

To provide a healthy, sustainable environmentand a full range of outdoor opportunities. 

To ensure the right of all people to use and enjoy these resourcesin their work and leisure. 

To work with people to understand each other's viewsand to carry out the public will. 

And in this partnership consider the future and generations to follow.

He probably didn't tell Foxconn that the last time Wisconsin moved to divert Great Lakes water, the process took years and a final decision came with limitations laid down by the other Great Lakes states which indicated they were keeping a close eye on Wisconsin.

So, of course that would lead to greater scrutiny of the Foxconn diversion bid which is raising concerns all its own.

And I'm sure Walker didn't tell Foxconn that Wisconsin was home to some of the country's most important and influential conservationists, including John Muir, Aldo Leopold and Gaylord Nelson, and that it's Walker who is out of step here and not those legacy leaders and his bi-partisan predecessors in office.

This is all public record, consolidated here, and consolidated in a full archive, here.

And probably didn't tell Foxconn that people statewide who are driving on some of the worst roads in the country, and who know that their tax dollars are routinely spent on projects far from their smaller cities and towns, would be somewhere between suspicious and ticked off that billions from the state treasury are ticketed for decades to assist and subsidize a single, profitable multi-national business they'd never heard about, but whose jobs in Wisconsin will be easily accessible to people in Illinois.

If Walker told Foxconn he had everything under control, locked down and guaranteed, he omitted a lot of inconvenient facts and precedents.

And that's on him:

Plus Tweets galore - - 

Verified accountMay 8More"Gov. Walker: Michels Corporation will be subcontractor for Foxconn project" 

- - that feature GOP donors can't paper over or substitute for respecting Wisconsin values and history.

And Foxconn bares some responsibility, too, for perhaps listening too closely to a politician running for re-election desperate to fix his most egregious broken promise.