Leaked Emails Raise Questions About Governor's $300M Offer

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by Phil Williams
Chief Investigative Reporter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- New leaked documents raise more questions about Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam's secret $300 million offer to Volkswagen.

The Haslam administration has claimed that the deal to help Volkswagen expand its Chattanooga plant never went through because the offer expired after the automaker failed to meet a deadline to respond -- and that it had nothing to do with the governor's opposition to the United Auto Workers.

But 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."

FULL story at link.

Related story:
Haslam Administration Linked $300M Offer To VW-UAW Vote

Read the incentive summary, other related documents
(full site only, not mobile)