Posted by: Joseph Spector [3]
Sen. Greg Ball, R-Patterson, Putnam County, said today he’s “demanding answers” after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last Tuesday a widely praised deal where IBM, Intel and other technology companies plan to invest $4.4 billion for nanotechnology research across the Hudson Valley and in other parts of upstate.
The deal includes $400 million in taxpayer money that will go for infrastructure work at the SUNY Albany nanotech center, not directly to the private companies, officials said last week.
The private companies aren’t getting any state aid, despite Ball’s contentions.
But Ball claims that Cuomo hasn’t indicated whether the state aid will go to “a host of corporate giants with a track record of outsourcing American jobs.”
He’s holding a news conference Thursday in Yorktown Heights to air his concerns.
Ball said in a news release that IBM has received taxpayer money in the past, only to lay off local workers and move the jobs overseas. [4]
IBM is the major player in the deal announced last week by Cuomo, with the Armonk-based company planning to invest $3.6 billion in its chip manufacturing and research and vowing to add about 950 jobs.
“Let me explain this in simple terms,” Ball said in a statement. “IBM has already received hundreds of millions of dollars from New York taxpayers. Not even a few years back, we found out IBM was cashing checks from taxpayers while simultaneously patenting a new technology specifically designed to outsource our jobs in America. Now, as small businesses everywhere are shutting their doors, we are going to reward these global giants with an even larger giveaway of corporate welfare, without asking the tough questions?” (ARTICLE [5])
