Governor Scott Walker Visits Caledonia Company to Talk About Jobs
DeltaHawk welcomed the Governor this morning to help announce their expansion.
Governor Scott Walker visited DeltaHawk in Caledonia this morning, April 7, to help the company announce it is expanding with the help of low-interest state loans totaling over $700,000.
With that money and a $1.2 million loan from the City of Racine, the company will improve its production facility and add 100 new jobs over the next three years for manufacturing a line of 2-12 cylinder aviation engines.
Standing next to Dennis Webb, company president, Walker said the State of Wisconsin has a strong and proud manufacturing history.
"In the first two months of 2011, private industry has added 13,000 new jobs," he said. "8,200 of them are in manufacturing. That's a good sign."
Further, Walker said that when employers grow and add positions, other companies see it as a good sign and as an opportunity for them to create jobs as well.
"This is how we'll get Wisconsin families working," he stated. "These aren't Democratic or Republican jobs. These are Wisconsin jobs. We need to focus on Wisconsin and getting people back to work."
State Senator Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) agreed.
"We need to create an environment to show other businesses that Racine County is a great place to be," he said. "We have good people with great ideas, and DeltaHawk is just one example."
In a written statement, Webb said, “We’re thrilled to have the strong support of Governor Walker, the State of Wisconsin, and the City of Racine as we move towards the next phase of our business development efforts. We look forward to expanding our production line and working with the State and City to grow our local economy.”
Heather Rayne Geyer
2:36 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011
walker seems pretty proud of himself. i could be wrong, but wasn't this deal (loan) in the making during Doyle's administration??
and they received a chunk o change in 2004 http://journaltimes.com/news/local/article_ee9f9171-8a93-52f7-92ee-2e9c9d8d8db2.html
i know he wants a big party whenever a job moves into town - i mean, he DID make big promises. however, companies coming in now aren't due to anything walker has done. in fact, we have lost many opportunities (rail, 2 separate wind projects) since his being elected.
I just don't think he deserves a big ole cookie when the majority of jobs he will create before recall are minimum wage and/or second jobs.
SturtResident
2:53 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011
Good grief, Heather, have you nothing positive to say? First you slammed Justice Prosser, who, in spite of the liberal paintbrush, is an honorable man (the Chief Justice is a bitch, ask anyone who knows here, as she will admit it herself!), now you use that same brush to denegrate Walker. Nowhere has he claimed any responsibliity for the deal for DeltaHawk! He is simply attempting to highlight those businesses who are adding to their payroll in today's economic environment. That is one of the things a good governor is supposed to do, highlight the good things things occurring in his state. Diamond Jim Doyle refused to leave the confines of Madison unless it was a trip out of state.
Regarding the rail project, it served no purpose other than to spend taxpayer money. Tout the thousands of jobs it would have created all you want, but with the exception of a small handfull all jobs were temporary in nature. Construction projects, by their very nature, are temporary (unless you want to discuss tollway construction in Chicago, that never ends).
"Companies coming in now aren't due to anything Walker has done," is a flat out lie. BRP in Sturtevant is centralizing their headquarters and operation here instead of Illinois - decision made just last month. Two other companies announced in the past week that they are moving from Illinois to WI (one in Pleasant Prairie, the other in Beloit I think) due to the better business climate Walker has provided over Quinn.
Heather Rayne Geyer
3:03 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011
LOL..But when Dickert shines a light on the positive he is called a liar for not talking about the bad.
Well I havent heard Walker talking about all the jobs which have been lost since his short admin. began:
1/5/11 Kmart Store #7100 Sheboygan Retail department store; New Closing: 62 employees
1/11/11 Patrick Cudahy Inc.; Layoff: 388 employees
1/13/11 US Bancorp Milw. Comm. Banking; New Layoff: 64 employees
1/13/11 NewPage Corporation Whiting Paper Mills, Closing: 366 employees
1/14/11 Robin Manufacturing USA Inc. Hudson Other Engine Equip Mfg; New Closing 29 employees
1/14/11 Unified Solutions, Inc. Pleasant Prairie Packaging & Labeling
Services 561910 New Layoff: 228 employees
1/24/11 Federal-Mogul Corporation Schofield Piston ring mfg; Closing: 183 employees
1/27/11 Wisconsin Food Gift Company, LLC; New Closing: 102 employees
1/27/11 Quillin's Village La Crosse Supermarkets & Other Grocery Stores; New Closing 99 employees
1/31/11 Aerial Company, Inc. Marinette Service Estab Equip Merch Whls; Layoffs: 77 employees
Heather Rayne Geyer
3:04 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011
1/31/11 Everbrite LLC La Crosse Sign Mfg; 339950 Closing: 9 employees
1/31/11 Ruan Logistics Corporation Eau Claire General Freight Trucking Long Distance; New Closing: 63 employees
2/16/11 Portage Daily Register Div. -Madison Newspapers Inc. Portage Newspaper; New Layoff: 33 employees
2/25/11 Zalk Josephs Fabricators LLC Stoughton Fabricated Structural Metal Mfg; New Layoff: 20 employees
3/3/11 West Asset Management Wausau Collection Agencies New Layoff; 163 employees
3/3/11 Ultra Mart Foods LLC, dba Pick n' Save Food Store West Bend Supermarkets & Other Grocery Stores; New Closing: 96 employees
3/10/11 JCPenney - Asset Recovery Center Milwaukee Mail Order Houses; New Closing: 52 employees
3/14/11 CSM Bakery Products NA Oak Creek Commercial Bakery; New Closing: 100 employees
3/17/11 Nice-Pak Products, Inc Green Bay Sanitary Paper Product Mfg; New Closing: 68 employees
Heather Rayne Geyer
3:05 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011
"This list does not include businesses such as train-maker, Talgo, and wind farm developer, Invenergy, who both have recently announced plans to pull out hundreds of jobs out of Wisconsin because of Scott Walker's policies. Meanwhile, Walker has taken a victory lap for "creating jobs" by paying an Illinois company $1.25 million to move their address a few miles north to Wisconsin. As discussed earlier, this doesn't create jobs or tax revenue: All the Illinois employees will just have a slightly longer commute to work and because of Illinois-Wisconsin tax reciprocity agreements, will continue to pay taxes to Illinois."
How hypocritical to say I am negative and painting with a common brush when you are doing the same of Abrahamson and Kloppenburg and Doyle. For you to call her a bitch above, takes away any credibility you may have once had. Seriously?? What year is this??
SturtResident
3:44 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011
Heather, I have no issue with Dickert so I won't further repond to that line. Let me start with your final line though. I know Abrahamson, and she has laughingly called herself a bitch. She wears it like a badge of honor, one that she has earned "for all the struggles she encountered to get to her point in life." Now I ask you, what year is this? Seems to me she needs to get over herself and simply be an impartial jurist, regardless of her personal travails. Nowhere did my response mention Kloppenburg, so I suggest you again read it. But none of these points are of import to the topic at hand.
To further quote you, "Seriously?" Your first comment was to state that Walker could claim no credit for DeltaHawk becouse he hasn't been in office long enough, claiming it was all Doyle's work. But you then turn around and attempt to lay the blame on him for all the plant and facility closures and layoffs that occurred in the same period. Wouldn't Doyle be responsible for those issues as well, since Wlaker is such a newbie?
Regarding those compnies jumping across state lines, there's more to it than payroll taxes. As any astute business manager, and decent politician, knows, people spend money in two locations, where they live and where they work. Who do you think benefits from the lunchtime rush, the holiday shopping, fuel, etc, that those "out of staters" purchase near their offices/plants?
Hypocrit? Me? If it makes you feel better to call me names, fine.
Heather Rayne Geyer
5:00 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011
I don't care if she jokingly calls herself a bitch. And you don't have your real identity here...how are we to know that you "know" her and she does indeed say this. Come on. And even it is were true, that does not give YOU or anyone else to do the same. Feeling free to use sexist slurs is not a sign on progressing times if that is what you are insinuating. It is going backwards to a time when men didn't handle the success and intelligence of a woman in power very well. Thankfully, I do not believe most men still carry these insecurities.
Hypocrite, negative...what's the difference. Do not pretend you are above calling it how you see it.
I do, however, apologize for lumping you in with the typical Hate Doyle/Hate Dickert voices you see so often on local blogs. I can fall into assuming from time to time and I need to watch that.
My point listing those job losses was to show that he being so proud of his job "gaining"...he never mentions (does he subtract from his "tally" of...what was it...2 bagillion jobs he promised to create) the ones we have lost. And several of those really ARE directly because of him. The two wind companies alone were a sad loss...economically and environmentally. And I don't care where the Illinois people eat lunch...that is SO not the same as creating jobs!
kath
11:50 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011
Heather-
1. You state that "the majority of jobs he will create before recall are minimum wage and/or second jobs", indicating that these jobs are undesirable? Not very valuable? And yet on your laundry list of jobs lost, many of them are these same customer service oriented jobs: K-mart, Pick N Save, a newspaper (whose largest "competitor", news available on-line, you work for! Oh the irony!). So, please clarify: are these jobs valuable commodities, or not?
2. Information in general is pretty easy to find, but it's important to know what perspective that information should be in. For instance, how do those numbers that you referenced, compare against WI numbers a year ago? Five years ago? How do they compare against WI trends and projections? How do they compare to national trends? Yes, all of this matters- think about how many companies that your grandparents shopped at, are still around today; companies start up, and companies fail. Businesses openings and/or closings don't, by themselves, tell you anything until you have an expectation, or prediction, to compare them to.
3. That said, what blog or zine are you getting info from? More of a personal introspection that I'm inviting you to take; everyone has a bias, it's important to know and recognize what angle you're being fed from. Unless, of course, you're collecting all those stats yourself, going door-to-door.
4. Heather, I mean this respectfully: do you think there's a character limit for a reason?
Greta Mueller
8:15 am on Monday, April 11, 2011
Heather A - DELTA HAWK IS NOT A CALEDONIA COMPANY - WISH IT WAS ! Their location on Golf Road is south ( in fact none of the airport is in Caledonia ) and east of Caledonia's borders and the new location is in a Racine industrial park - neither location is mentioned in your story or I'm assuming other readers would have picked up on this sooner.