3-2-18 records detail battle over foxconn

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — New records show the high stakes contest for Foxconn Technology Group’s first North American manufacturing facility came down to a battle between Wisconsin and neighboring Michigan.  Records released by Gov. Scott Walker’s office shows the Taiwanese company also toured sites in Ohio before Wisconsin won out, thanks to a $3 billion state incentive package.  Jim Paetsch, vice president of the Milwaukee 7 economic development group, says in a briefing for a May meeting with Foxconn that Wisconsin and Michigan were finalists for the project.  Other emails show Foxconn toured locations in Ohio and Michigan before choosing a site in southeast Wisconsin in between Milwaukee and Chicago. More than a dozen communities across the state initially expressed interest in the plant that could employ up to 13,000 people.