This story has been updated, see bottom of story for details. After negotiations went sour between Tennessee's Gov. Haslam and Volkswagen, Volkswagen warned they had other offers in alternative sites outside of Tennessee.
New documents reveal that Volkswagen had accepted Gov. Haslam's $300 million offer of taxpayer dollars to help the company expand production in Chattanooga. That offer was
revoked by Governor Haslam, after he learned UAW would be part of Volkswagen in Chattanooga.
From News Channel 5 in Nashville:
emails leaked to NewsChannel 5 Investigates -- emails that the state had refused to release -- show Volkswagen lawyers had actually drawn up papers for a potential deal to bring more than a thousand new jobs to Tennessee, but it was the Haslam administration who pulled the plug on the incentives it had offered in August 2013.
"A number of circumstances have changed or occurred since we delivered the August 23rd materials," Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty emailed a top Volkswagen executive on Jan. 31. "The August 2013 incentive summary does not account for these changes and is no longer relevant."
Haslam administration claims there was a 90 day limit on the offer, but the day the State received the letter from Volkswagen in January, they sent out a MOU ( Memorandum of Understanding) in order to close the deal.
Democratic State Rep. Mike Stewart told News 5:
"As far as the emails that I'm looking at today, they just confirm what I think everybody already knew -- which is, these jobs, this package was pulled for reasons that have nothing to do with any deadline," said state Rep. Mike Stewart, D-Nashville, after reviewing the documents
To watch the video, go to this News 5: Leaked Emails Raise Questions About Governors $300 Million Offer
Commissioner Hagerty had first claimed, in an interview with the Associated Press, that it was a "90-day incentives offer" that had simply expired.
His spokesperson later told other media that the 90-day incentive package expired on Jan. 31.
Then, after NewsChannel 5 uncovered the August proposal, the spokesperson said the Haslam administration had actually "kept its incentive offer on the table for almost two months longer" than the 90 days.
"I would love to know if there is a single person outside the administration -- Democrat or Republican -- who believes in any such 90-day deadline?" Rep. Stewart asked.
In fact, Hagerty made no mention of such a 90-day deadline in his email to Volkswagen executive Christof Spathelf.
So the deadline is a lame excuse and is not believable. What changed to make the Haslam administration do something so drastic as to lose 1000 new jobs for Tennesseans?
Rep. Stewart said, "The only circumstance that had changed was the Volkswagen -- which is part of its business policy -- said it would cooperate with the workers in the plant."
In fact, that email came just four days after Volkswagen signed a friendly agreement with the UAW, calling for a union election. And it came the same day that an anti-union group out of Washington was protesting Volkswagen not letting opponents inside the plant to voice their objections.
An investigation is needed. Throughout this Chattanooga deal we've heard:
1) Sen. Corker promise that if there was no UAW in Chattanooga, Volkswagen would expand the plant for a new SUV within 2 weeks. That has not happened.
2) Volkswagen's President said that Corker's claims were not true. Corker then said he had it on higher authority it was true. Still no SUV in Chattanooga.
3) Gov. Haslam tied taxpayer money to a deal contingent on his ideologies; instead, of the best interest of Tennesseans.
4) Gov. Haslam's office lied about reasons the deal with VW did not happen.
Finally, if anyone knows how I can embed this as a video, please help me. I'll remove this statement, when I get the video to work.
NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather
9:02 AM PT: Just in: http://www.tennessean.com/...
Volkswagen warned Tennessee officials during difficult negotiations over incentives to expand the German automaker's lone U.S. plant that the company has already secured offers to build a new SUV elsewhere.
Volkswagen attorney Alex Leath said in a Jan. 27 email to the state Department of Economic and Community Development that the Volkswagen board would be presented options to build the new vehicle at the Chattanooga plant and or "alternative sites outside of Tennessee."