WEDC-backed Kestrel had "financing issues" in Maine before moving to Wisconsin
On Monday, Hackett passed along this piece from Maine about Kestrel Aircraft, the company that has promised to create 600 jobs in Superior with help from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.
Headlined “Kestrel in Brunswick: How blue-sky promises came crashing down,” the story describes how Kestrel owner Alan Klapmeier had been fighting with officials in Maine about not providing enough taxpayer support for his dream of manufacturing commercial airplanes at a closed military base in Brunswick.
According to the report, Klapmeier was expecting a $100 million allocation of New Markets Tax Credits — a federal program designed to encourage investment in low-income rural areas — but had only received about a fifth of that amount.
Failing to land enough funding in Maine, Klapmeier began seeking other sources of public money and apparently found a willing participant in newly-elected Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
“We may be dealing with a serial offender here,” he says.
http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/mike_ivey/report-wedc-backed-kestrel-had-financing-issues-in-maine-before/article_8298dfc4-0b8b-11e4-9162-0019bb2963f4.html?comment_form=true
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