| 7/10/2009 11:32:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| State Rep. Andy Jorgensen |
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Flyer blames Jorgensen for Briggs loss
By James Debilzen
Union staff writer
JEFFERSON - A flyer distributed in the Jefferson County area that claims state Rep. Andy Jorgensen, D-Fort Atkinson, is "voting to kill jobs" in Jefferson was labeled by the representative and the city's mayor as a "cheap shot."
A flyer paid for by the Republican Party of Wisconsin said Jorgensen voted in February to raise taxes on employers like Briggs & Stratton Corp., which announced last week it will close its Jefferson and Watertown plants, resulting in the loss of 430 jobs.
The Jefferson plant, Briggs & Stratton Power Products on the city's north side, produces generators.
"One of the first bills Rep. Jorgensen approved this year contained an 11 percent tax hike on employers at a time Wisconsin is losing thousands of jobs," said Mark Jefferson, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. "The state budget bill that Rep. Jorgensen just approved will also dramatically increase the cost to do business in Wisconsin. The public deserves to know the consequences of their representative's votes.
"This is a tough time for Jefferson County and all of Wisconsin, but it's not too late for the legislature to act on measures that will improve Wisconsin's business climate and get Wisconsin workers back on the job," Jefferson added.
Portable generator production will be moved to an Auburn, Ala., facility where it currently produces engines for those products, and pressure washer manufacturing will be moved to the company's McDonough, Ga., facility, which produces other lawn and garden products.
Home standby generator production, along with engineering research and development, will be moved to the Wauwatosa facility.
According to the flyer, the legislature in Georgia voted to lower taxes on employers like Briggs & Stratton with the Georgia JOBS Act, House Bill 481 and HB 482.
"Their governor, unlike Gov. Doyle and Andy Jorgensen, is reaching out to create new jobs and bring jobs in from other states," the flyer reads. "Not surprisingly, Briggs & Stratton moved jobs from Wisconsin to Georgia."
The flyer shows a map of Wisconsin with a dot representing Jefferson and an arrow that says "Briggs & Stratton" and "JOBS" pointing down to a map of Georgia.
On the other side, the flyer said Wisconsin has lost more than 133,000 jobs in the last year and encourages readers to call Jorgensen to "tell him to stop raising taxes during a recession.
"Rep. Jorgensen has voted for $5 billion in tax increases in the last five months, driving jobs out of Jefferson," the flyer said.
What the flyer does not say, however, is that HB 481 was vetoed by Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue on May 11, according to online legislative records and the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper.
A summary of HB 481 said the bill would have amended and enacted provisions intended to provide tax relief, and encourage employment opportunities and business stimulation.
"House Bill 481 combines a number of tax and fee provisions," Perdue said in a statement on his veto. "These provisions include: a suspension of certain business activity filing fees with the Secretary of State; changes to the unemployment tax; a $2,400 per employee tax credit provided to companies hiring employees meeting certain conditions; a phase out of the estimated sales and use tax paid by certain retailers collecting sales and use tax; the elimination of the net worth tax paid by companies, and a reduction in the long-term capital gains tax rate."
Perdue said estimates of the revenue impact to the state, and related cuts in services and reductions in purchases totaled more than $1.5 billion over the next three years.
For Fiscal Year 2009, state general fund revenues in Georgia were expected to be $2.7 billion less than the original revenue forecast for the period, he said.
Georgia is constitutionally required to maintain a balanced budget.
"In short, while this legislation may be supportable in different economic times, given our constitutional and fiscal constraints, I do not believe this legislation, although well meaning in intent, can be afforded at this time," Perdue wrote.
HB 482, which states "all tangible personal property constituting the inventory of a business shall be exempt from state ad valorem taxation," was approved by the governor on May 4 without comment.
A sampling of a handful of residents in Fort Atkinson and Jefferson said they received the flyers, some of which were placed in Daily Jefferson County Union newspaper delivery boxes.
Communications Director Kristin Ruesch of the Republican Party of Wisconsin said the flyers were distributed by hand by volunteers.
"I think they were trying to bring light to the problems with the state budget that Rep. Jorgensen voted for," Ruesch said.
Laura Timm, the director of corporate communications at Briggs & Stratton, said the company's decision to close the plants had nothing to do with what the flyer claims.
"That has absolutely no impact whatsoever on our decision," Timm said. "That was not considered at all."
Jorgensen dismissed the accusations in the flyer Thursday morning, stating the information was "purely part of a part of the truth."
"I will do anything that's asked of me to preserve jobs in Jefferson County," he said. "I will always be there. I've been there from the beginning when they made this business decision and I'll be there until the end to make sure the workers are taken care of.
"They're trying to score some political points in an unfortunate situation," Jorgensen continued. "I can handle the truth, but when somebody makes things up like this, it's hard for me to confront it. It's not what the flyer said that it is and I think the people in Jefferson County know there is no connection there. Briggs & Stratton would say the same thing."
Jefferson Mayor Gary Myers said that while he does not agree with many of the business-related policies coming from the state's capitol, the pending closure of Briggs & Stratton does not have a direct tie to Jorgensen.
"There are a lot of things about the policies of the Doyle administration that I don't agree with and that I think are anti-business," Myers stated. "However, I think it was a bit of an inappropriate cheap shot to link Andy directly to the loss of Briggs. That's a bit of a reach.
"If you want to look at overall policies, the current policies in Madison aren't helping us retain business," he continued. "But to link Andy and the Briggs loss directly, that's just unfair."
When Briggs & Stratton announced the Jefferson plant closure on July 1, Myers and Jefferson City Administrator Tim Freitag met with Harold L. Redman, president of Briggs & Stratton Home Power Products Group, that same morning. Myers said there was no indication the state's policies were at fault for the plant closure.
"Our first question was, 'What could we do to change your mind,'" Myers said. "The issue of the state business policy never came up. If that was a part of the decision, then I am unaware of it."
At the time of the announcement, Myers told the Daily Union that Redman indicated the closure was based on a business consolidation strategy driven by the poor economy.
Regardless, Myers said he still thinks the state needs to change the way it treats business.
"I do think there is a lot we can do in the state to make ourselves more competitive and work to attract more businesses," Myers said. "We have some things going on now where we're trying to do that and we're getting good cooperation from the state.
"However, we are high tax and the litigation environment is not good," he said. "There are a lot of things we could do much better."
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