Scott Walker asks senators to return quickly to Madison to pass Kimberly-Clark incentives

Gov. Scott Walker urged state senators Thursday to return to Madison this month to pass a multimillion-dollar incentive package for a Fox Valley company in exchange for keeping at least one of its two area plants open.

Walker told reporters in Milwaukee he's working to find 17 votes in the Senate to pass the package that was approved by the state Assembly in February but failed to gain traction in the Republican-controlled Senate before lawmakers concluded their work for the year.

That means Walker likely needs Democrats to agree to vote for the package by Sept. 30 — when Kimberly-Clark Corp. plans to decide whether to close two of its Wisconsin plants. But it's uncertain how many lawmakers of either party would vote to pass the measure for the maker of paper and hygiene products.

"It’s clear it will take both Republican and Democratic senators to pass this," Walker said after touring a Metro Market. "My goal is to get this done to protect those jobs and to protect a key industry."

RELATED:Kimberly-Clark wants Wisconsin to decide on incentives by Sept. 30 to keep plant open

RELATED:Republicans likely don't have the votes for Kimberly-Clark deal, GOP leader says

Votes hard to come by

Getting votes in the Senate is an uphill climb. Just two senators — Senate President Roger Roth (R-Appleton) and Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) — have publicly said they back the bill.

Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) in July said he opposes providing incentives for the company. 

Kapenga belongs to the most conservative wing of the Senate GOP caucus. Others who often side with him are Steve Nass of Whitewater, Duey Stroebel of Saukville and David Craig of the Town of Vernon.

A spokesman for Nass said if the Senate took up the package by the Assembly, Nass wouldn't support it. 

"Sen. Nass doesn’t support the level of credits in (the bill)," spokesman Mike Mikalsen said. "If that version were brought to the floor for a vote, he would vote no."

Stroebel declined to comment "at this stage" of discussions, and a spokesman for Craig did not respond to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

Republicans control the Senate 18-15.

Walker wants the senators to come into extraordinary session. Doing so would require the support of at least three of the five senators on the Senate Organization Committee.

The committee consists of Roth; Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau); Sen. Leah Vukmir (R-Brookfield), who is running for U.S. Senate; Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse); and Sen. Janet Bewley (D-Mason).

Roth for months has backed taking up the bill, but he hasn't responded to interview requests this week. A spokesman for Bewley said she would provide Republicans with a vote in committee to get the bill to the floor but would like to see the measure expanded to help the entire forest products industry. 

The others on the committee haven't said if they support the incentive package passed by the Assembly or would vote to bring it to the floor.

Roth’s opponent, Democrat Lee Snodgrass, criticized Roth for canceling a vote on the incentive package this spring. She contrasted the stalled deal with the one passed last year that will provide $4 billion in state and local subsidies for Foxconn Technology Group.

“(Roth) was quick to pass billions in tax breaks for foreign corporations and the wealthy, but has been AWOL when it came time to stand up for local workers, businesses and communities,” Snodgrass said in a statement.

Details become clear

Until now, it was unclear what kind of package Kimberly-Clark would receive — providing enough uncertainty to keep Senate Democrats from committing support.

Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said last month he expected Walker to make changes to the bill with a partial veto if the bill got through the Senate. 

But Walker said Thursday: "The deal is the bill."

"There’s no vetoes. There’s no changes," Walker said, adding that if lawmakers change the incentive package, Kimberly-Clark's agreement with its employee union could be affected. 

Walker's Democratic opponent, state schools Superintendent Tony Evers, said through a spokeswoman that the deal provided "too little, too late" and left too many questions unanswered. 

"There’s more to economic development than cutting last-minute checks," Evers spokeswoman Britt Cudaback said in a statement.

Evers' running mate, former state Rep. Mandela Barnes, wrote on Twitter that the deal was part of a "sweepstakes for large companies around here," adding, "Pretty sure this is the slippery part of the slope."

The bill's wage incentives alone could cost state taxpayers $101 million to $117 million over 15 years.

Those figures assume the company's two Fox Valley plants would remain open. The amount would be less if only the Cold Spring plant in Fox Crossing remained operational. Fitzgerald this week said there is no way to save the company's Neenah nonwoven plant.

It's also unclear if Kimberly-Clark must keep both plants open to receive the incentives. 

Though Democrats are key to passage of the bill, a spokeswoman for Shilling said Walker hasn't spoken to Shilling "in months," and that Democrats haven't met to discuss the package because Fitzgerald told the caucus it wouldn't be up for a vote until after the November election. 

"Neither Gov. Walker nor Senators Roth and Fitzgerald have made any effort to bring the Senate back into session on this issue," spokeswoman Kate Constalie said.

Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) said a vote needed to be held on the issue so voters know where senators stand. 

"I believe we owe Wisconsinites a roll vote on the Kimberly-Clark deal," Carpenter said in a statement that did not disclose whether he backed the deal.

In a Tuesday interview, Fitzgerald said he didn't know how many Republicans supported the bill and wouldn't say if he would back it himself. On Thursday, he released a statement saying he was working on getting votes and asked Shilling to do the same.

Kimberly-Clark announced in January it planned to shed up to 5,500 employees and close or sell 10 plants worldwide. Among those targeted for closure are its facilities in Neenah and Fox Crossing. 

Fitzgerald said this week the paper and hygiene product maker would close its Neenah nonwovens plant that employs about 110 people. But an incentive package could save the Cold Spring plant in Fox Crossing that has 500 jobs, he said. 

The incentive package would provide per-job incentives in line with those offered last year to Foxconn for a massive plant planned in Mount Pleasant. 

If Kimberly-Clark continued to operate in northeastern Wisconsin, the state would cover 17 percent of qualifying wages paid to workers and also pay 15 percent of any factory upgrades.