Development official defends Nissan relocation incentives
Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber also denied news reports that Nissan’s relocation consultant, Mark Sweeney of Greenville, S.C.-based McCallum Sweeney Consulting, held direct influence over legislation passed earlier this year to encourage the move.
“I asked Mr. Sweeney for his views on what the competitor states offered. He shared those with me,” Kisber said in a conference call. “He did not at any time tell me: ‘You have to go write a piece of legislation to do this or that.'”
Of the $197.6 million in incentives Nissan could earn for moving from suburban Los Angeles to outside Nashville, nearly $64 million in relocation assistance came from changes made in Tennessee laws last session, Kisber said. The incentives also include another $80.3 million in jobs tax credits.
Kisber said Sweeney was not a lobbyist because he was not advocating for Nissan to move to Tennessee. Sweeney did not immediately return a phone message left by The Associated Press on Friday.
“It was our efforts ? and solely the efforts from those within this administration ? that altered the legislation that was presented to the Legislature,” Kisber said.
The board of the state Registry of Election Finance has declined to investigate whether Sweeney should have been registered as a lobbyist, said Drew Rawlins, the registry’s executive director.
“Unless we get a sworn complaint, the matter will probably not be pursued,” Rawlins said.
Dick Williams, chairman of the government watchdog group Tennessee Common Cause, said Sweeney’s activities appear to “enter into a gray area.”
“Based on what I understand Commissioner Kisber said, I would think there probably was not a violation of the law,” Williams said. “On the other hand, it raises the question of what extent any contact with the administration or the Legislature becomes a lobbying activity for which you need to register.”
The fine for lobbying without being registered is $750 dollars, Rawlins said.
Kisber said most of the incentives offered to Nissan involve tax credits ? only $10 million in “hard dollars” are being laid out by the state.
“It is a very attractive financial proposition for the state,” he said.
Kisber cited a University of Tennessee report that found that the Nissan relocation is expected to generate more than $500 million annually in income and $20 million in sales tax. It’s also expected to directly bring nearly 1,300 jobs and help create an additional 13,000 jobs.
Attracting Nissan was part of an initiative that has made Tennessee the fifth-largest automotive producer in the country, Kisber said. More than 125,000 people work in the state’s automotive industry, with an annual payroll of more than $6 billion, according to the department.
Nissan plans to move into a temporary headquarters in downtown Nashville by next summer while it builds its new facility in Franklin, about 20 miles south, according to Kisber.
Nissan’s relocation will mark the 17th company to move its headquarters to the state during the administration of Gov. Phil Bredesen, according to state officials.
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On the Net:
Department of Economic and Community Development: http://www.tennessee.gov/ecd/