Welcome to your modern Tennessee Republican Party, folks. They talk a good game about getting the government out of the way of business but when that business wants to work with the UAW, all of that good talk gets chucked by the wayside:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Volkswagen warned Tennessee officials during difficult negotiations over incentives to expand the automaker’s Chattanooga plant that the company has already secured offers to build a new SUV elsewhere.
Volkswagen attorney Alex Leath in a Jan. 27 email to the state Department of Economic and Community Development said “non-deal” issues were causing delays in completing the deal in Tennessee, an allusion to a dispute over whether the United Auto Workers would represent workers at the plant.
That email, I repeat, was dated January 27. So when Sen. Bob “Budinsky” Corker opened his fat yap and let some stupid fall out, was he lying? Or just hopelessly wrong? Corker tried to sway the UAW vote by telling everyone if workers rejected the UAW, the plant would “reward” the state with an expansion:
“I’ve had conversations today and based on those am assured that should the workers vote against the UAW, Volkswagen will announce in the coming weeks that it will manufacture its new mid-size SUV here in Chattanooga.”
“If the UAW is voted down they’re going to come here immediately, within a two week period, and affirm they’re going to build a line here,” Corker told The Associated Press on the second of three days of voting.
All of this when, just two weeks prior, the state had been notified that “VW has already secured offers to build a new SUV elsewhere.” So, was Corker, lying? Or just stupid? It’s always so hard to tell.
Meanwhile that two-week period has long-since passed. So where’s the announcement, Senator?
Corker, by the way, still stands by his bald-faced lie unsubstantiated claim blatant fearmongering completely unfounded assertion. He’s obviously visited Frank Luntz’s Little Shop Of Wordtweaking, claiming the UAW is the bad guy here, not his rigid adherence to political ideology over jobs for Tennessee workers:
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker said today that the United Auto Workers’ withdrawal of its appeal to February’s union vote at the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant opens the way to re-engage with the company to attract a potential expansion.
“It’s a shame the UAW slowed the momentum on our expansion conversations with Volkswagen, but now it’s time for VW, our state and our community to re-engage and move forward with bringing additional jobs to Chattanooga,” said Corker in a statement.
Ah yes, such a shame, Senator. One of the most hilarious bits in this whole farce is the part about how Corker claimed a pro-UAW vote would force VW to move its SUV manufacturing to Mexico — blissfully unaware, it seems, that VW’s Mexico plant is unionized. What a buffoon.
I’m just trying to understand why VW at this point would want to expand in Tennessee. No amount of incentives thrown their way can overcome that stench of merde wafting over political interference in VW’s plant operations.
This is what happens, Tennessee, when you elect Republicans. You get a lot of talk about creating jobs and small government and getting the government out of the way of business, but apparently the only thing they’re actually able to do is shut down Planned Parenthood clinics.
