Walker: ‘Hard to tell’ whether Kimberly-Clark will take tax deal to keep plants open

Gov. Scott Walker said Thursday “it’s hard to tell” whether Kimberly-Clark Corp. will take his administration’s tax deal to keep its Neenah and Fox Crossing plants open.

“We put the best offer we could on the table,” Walker told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin after speaking at the Lincoln Day Dinner for the Winnebago County Republicans. “… Even though it’s not new jobs, we thought, unlike just anybody out there, when you think of an industry that has such a large impact, an employer that has such a large impact, that’s why we said we should parallel what we did for (Foxconn).”

He added that he thinks the special legislation — sponsored by Fox Valley area Republicans, Rep. Jim Steineke and Sen. Roger Roth — to give Kimberly-Clark incentives would pass both the state Assembly and state Senate before the legislative session ends.

“Whether or not (Kimberly-Clark) takes it, it’s hard to tell,” Walker said. “… My sense was we wanted to make sure we weren’t walking away from that situation without putting our best offer on the table, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

In late January, Kimberly-Clark announced it would be closing two plants in the Fox Cities as part of a restructuring plan. The closures would leave 600 workers out of a job.
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