Tennessee Governor Leveled A $300 Million Threat At VW Over UAW Vote.

[pa28]

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/25122909/haslam-administration-linked-300m-offer-to-vw-uaw-process

The governor secretly dangled a strings-attached $300 million state incentive package over VW's head just to keep a small union shop out of his state.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Were hundreds of millions of your tax dollars offered to Volkswagen -- and then pulled back -- to try to keep the United Auto Workers out of Chattanooga?

For months, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has denied any connection.

But documents leaked to NewsChannel 5 Investigates offer conclusive proof that the Haslam administration wanted a say in the automaker's deal with organized labor -- in exchange for $300 million in economic incentives to help VW expand its Chattanooga operations.

Now we finally know what Sen. Corker was alluding to when he said VW workers would have expanded production, but only if they rejected union representation. Congratulations to Channel 5 in Nashville for providing the public with some actual investigative reporting.

[Tsiyu]

1. It's all a racket here

I'll hear people talking about 'Chicago-style' corruption.

IL politicians could take some lessons from TN legislators as far as that goes.

They have no morals and less shame.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. It is not just your state, or Chicago, it is everywhere

We are living through one of those particularly corrupt periods in US History.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. I am sure the NLBR will ...

be right back and order a new vote without any pressure whatsoever.

Like now, like pronto.

I'd better not hold my breath or I will die though.

[B Calm]

4. So when will the workers have another vote and when does the governor

go to jail?

[calimary]

5. Or better yet, when will VW move the plant to a friendlier state?

[B Calm]

6. Good point! We lost a new Toyota plant to Canada a few years back

because they have national health care. When will these right wingers get their head out of their asses and wake up?

[DallasNE]

13. I Think This Is Exactly What VW Is Looking At

VW has found that worker councils actually work and that was part of the agreement to organize. By pulling out all stops to get a no vote they have driven VW to search for a more friendly labor environment.

[Fawke Em]

20. So you want my fellow Tennesseans to lose their jobs to make a point?

Personally, I hope they retake the vote and a union comes in. It will open the door for MORE Tennessee workers and show the people that unions ARE good for them.

[calimary]

22. Now THAT would be the best of both worlds.

That would be preferable. I hate to see the little guy pay for the big guy's greed and gluttony and outright lies and completely avoidable mistakes in judgment. But I also hate to see the little guy keep being taken in by these lying assholes! How many of them voted because they believed bob corker's insinuation that it'd mean more jobs and more manufacturing if they kept the union out? How many of 'em believed that unions are no good, and don't speak for the little guy and don't allow the playing field to even up a little bit so the little guy has more of a voice, and more of a say in his/her future? HOW MANY?

I'm with you, Fawke Em. I wish there could be a second vote. I hate to see people have to learn the hard way. But sometimes, when they DON'T listen and they DON'T pay attention and they DON'T close their eyes and ears to the toxins being spewed by Pox Noise and the radio gas giants, well, then it's sad and disappointing and a damn shame - because they're the ones who wind up getting it up the you-know-what.

I apologize, Fawke Em. I've become pretty damn cynical and jaundiced watching all this. Watching the gullible and relentlessly (some, even proudly) ill-informed and ignorant, who fall for the fetching blondes with the long legs and short skirts and the slick talkers and dumb-fucks like steve doocy on Pox Noise. And they KEEP falling for it. WHEN THERE'S PLENTY OF TRUTH OUT THERE TO BE HEARD AND READ ABOUT AND STUDIED AND SEEN!!!! If they'd just look a tiny bit deeper or look around a tiny bit more. If they don't automatically close their ears to the liberal or Dem message, as they're programmed to keep on doing by now because they're fed a constant media diet of it. If they had the same amount of distrust of republi-CON-speak as the rest of us here do. But they trust. And they believe, and they've swallowed whole the notion that all you have to do is just keep on voting republi-CON and YOU TOO will be rich someday. A "someday" that never quite gets here.

I wish it were different. I wish NOBODY had to learn the hard way. I do not celebrate this or gloat about it, either. I think it's a tragedy and a travesty. You really can lead a horse to water and then watch that horse refuse to drink. How many of them are also gonna believe the deceitful campaign ads saying the ACA is a flop and don't you believe the numbers that are now manifesting. How many???? It's a damn shame. They're hard-wired to dismiss whatever a liberal says - and for no good reason I can see. Even when the truth starts playing out directly in front of their faces.

You can't say they weren't warned. And unfortunately very few of us can say they paid any attention to those warnings. I wish there weren't a price to pay. Truly I do.

[pa28]

23. VW is clearly looking for balance between company and labor interests.

It seems to me Volkswagen believes the state of Tennessee has been taken over by right wing ideologues and I can't really say I blame them.

Why would you want to invest in a place hostile to labor interests when a loyal labor force is a critical factor in your business plan?

[bkanderson76]

7. ...Jail?...Surely you jest.

The chance this crook goes to jail is dependent upon the very people who elected him into office.
And that chance is very slim unless the people gather at the predawn hour with enough rope to hogtie the asshole up and drag him to the courthouse themselves.....until then, no jail....No re-vote....
Just sit idly by Chattanooga, go build some tricycles for $6.00 hour....see if they care

[pa28]

8. This looks like racketeering and Sen. Corker was obviously involved as well.

I want the answers to your questions myself.

[SunSeeker]

9. That threat sure looks like interference with a union vote in violation of NLRB rules.

And the UAW knows it.

The union has asked the National Labor Relations Board to order new elections, citing interference by Tennessee political leaders.

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/25122909/haslam-administration-linked-300m-offer-to-vw-uaw-process

[Brigid]

10. This should cost both Haslam and Corker their jobs.

Sad thing is, it may not.

[Fawke Em]

21. It won't.

Our four big blue cities simply don't have enough people to outvote the rural voters who keep, literally, shooting themselves in the feet.

(FWIW, Tennessee is no different than Pennsylvania in that all of its cities are far more liberal than their rural counterparts. The biggest difference is that our four largest cities, combined, aren't as big as Pittsburgh and Philly, so the can't take out the red bastards)

On edit: And, as a result of that, our Democratic Party is just about void. Very few people waiting in the wings with enough cash or statewide recognition to beat any Republican.

[dem in texas]

11. So corrupt in Tennessee

I lived in Tennessee in the late 1970's and remember the scandal over selling pardons, the governor even pardoned convicted murderers.

[DallasNE]

12. Looks Like Blood Money With Strings Attached

Was not the conditions VW could accept. Good for them. So, has Corker ever answered why his promise of a new VW SUV line never came to pass as he promised would occur in exchange for a no vote. Plus, where is the enabling legislation that would permit Tennessee to fork over $300 million taxpayer dollars to a private company -- and a foreign one at that.

[DeSwiss]

14. K&R

- NewsChannel Five is one of a last few bastions of real journalists that remains.

[pa28]

17. It seems journalism at the local TV level is not dead after all.

I was under the impression it was buried and replaced by teleprompted newsreading a long time ago.

"You don't need us to tell you that gas prices are back on the rise."

[DeSwiss]

18. They all do the ''off-the-rack filler'' stories.....

...because that's cheaper than hiring people, paying them, giving them benefits, sick and vacation days.

But being here in the state's capitol has helped Newschannel 5 evolve this way, because it has afforded them an endless supply of electoral chicanery, crooked-country godfathers and moronic Teabilly drama kings/queens. They're nothing if not entertaining.

- And all with that country music twang that everyone's come to know and love or hate......

[pa28]

24. Indeed. Media consolidation kills investigative journalism through cost and top-down orders.

Fortunately, some plucky folks in your neighborhood are still willing to find and tell the truth.

[Go Vols]

19. +1

[spanone]

15. and he did it without a single repercussion. others will be encouraged.

we've turned into a hell hole down here....reTHUG house senate gubnor.

[LynneSin]

16. "Right to Work" means "Right to fire highly qualified people for cheaper, lesser-skilled ones"

Not sure these days if I want to buy a car from a non-Union shop.

[Cha]

25. K&R! thanks pa