MADISON (WKOW) – Gov. Scott Walker celebrated the groundbreaking of Wilde East Towne Honda in Madison on Friday.
The $10 million dealership is expected to bring about 100 new jobs to the area.
"I think it reinforces what we said, which is we built solid foundation, a platform for success, to help create more jobs in this state," Gov. Walker said.
But his reforms had little to do with the dealership opening.
It's something owners say they were planning to do in 2008 until a legal battle put things on hold.
"Basically another local dealership sued American Honda and we had to wait until that legal battle was over," said George Hidalgo, an owner of Wilde East Towne Honda.
Now, the governor is responding to the declining job numbers the state released Thursday.
The Current Employment Survey showed a drop in private-sector jobs by 6,200 in April, and by more than 11,000 over the year.
"A sample of 3.5% of employers in the state is not accurate. It's the best we've got until the quarterly estimates come out," he said.
In an ad released Wednesday, Walker combines the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages numbers for last year with numbers from the surveys he says aren't as accurate to show a 33,000 net gain of jobs since December 2010.
He's contrasting that with the increase in unemployment in Milwaukee.
"The fact that he is willing to try to throw Milwaukee under the bus in this gubernatorial election says a lot about loyalty because it was only 18 months ago he was leading this community," said Democratic challenger for governor and Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett. "Milwaukee is a city that has the largest low income people and just as he tried to divide and conquer as he said he was going to do when going after workers' rights, he's trying to divide and pit everyone against the city of Milwaukee. I resent that."
The Department of Workforce Development's latest release on jobs in April is the last one we'll see before the recall election on June 5.
