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Rules bent a bit to move ConAgra headquarters to Chicago

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Illinois

* The Omaha World-Herald reports that ConAgra passed up a huge Nebraska subsidy to relocate its headquarters to Chicago. And then this happened…

ConAgra told Illinois officials that tax incentives were needed to justify moving its offices to Chicago. Illinois officials must have been convinced. They found a way around a statewide moratorium on incentives the governor had recently imposed because of a budget crisis in Illinois. […]

An Illinois spokeswoman last year told news media in Chicago that the state’s offer to ConAgra came before the incentives program was suspended. But documents obtained by The World-Herald show a different timeline.

ConAgra bypassed the moratorium by tacking its headquarters request onto an application it had submitted a few weeks before the freeze. That application for incentives was for an unrelated expansion at a northern Illinois cookie factory it owned, according to documents from the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity, requested by The World-Herald under public records law. […]

The application for tax credits on the cookie plant — not including the headquarters move — was dated May 12, 2015, and Illinois informally approved it May 28, five days before Gov. Bruce Rauner’s June 2 moratorium announcement.

* But then the company decided to jettison that cookie plant…

On July 17 ConAgra asked Illinois for new financial incentives for a corporate office in Chicago, attaching the request to the cookie plant project even though it knew the plant wouldn’t be with the company much longer. On Aug. 12 an Illinois official wrote to Connolly offering possible financial support for what ConAgra was by then calling a new corporate headquarters.

* Steve Rhodes takes a walk down memory lane…

Me, October 1, 2015: “New ConAgra CEO Sean Connolly lives in Winnetka, according to the Tribune. So, yeah, this move was really about shortening his commute.”

And just 10 days ago, upon the announcement that Duracell was moving its executive suite here: “I sense a trend of HQs moving here because CEOs who already live here don’t want to move to where their companies are actually already located. True? Assignment Desk, activate!”

Not that Chicago doesn’t have a lot to offer companies, but it’s not like they’re moving distribution facilities here because of our geography or moving manufacturing plants here because of our workforce.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:11 am

Comments

Corporate blackmail plain and simple. “Give me the money or else”

Comment by Honeybear Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:16 am
Rules are for chumps.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:17 am
Rauner should have told them to stick it. They would have moved without the payoff.

Remember when ADM tried to shake down the state for millions to move to Chicago — after the CFO had just bought a multi-million-dollar Gold Coast condo?

They got nothing and moved to Chicago, anyway.

Comment by Wordslinger Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:17 am
This was the first time Rauner’s folks at DCEO dealt with an EDGE deal from start to finish. They bungled it and got taken. They couldn’t even follow their own rules. Thank god we have a successful businessman as governor and all the superstars who mismanaged this deal are now at Intersect.

Comment by Henry Francis Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:23 am
Thats the way the cookie crumbles

Comment by Rabid Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:38 am
I should add, the superstars are now over at Intersect, where they don’t have to worry anymore about FOIA shedding light on what they do.

Comment by Henry Francis Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:47 am
Jeepers, that’s corrupt. Sounds like Rauner’s going to fit in as governor of this state after all.

Comment by Chucktownian Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:53 am
Well finally, a business friendly action by the State. Too bad some rules had to be broken to make it work.

Comment by Huh? Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 12:40 pm
I thought Illinois needed jobs and with those jobs, people buy goods and services and pay income taxes, sales taxes, real estate taxes.

And boost the economy and provide $ for those who need services.

Silly me, don’t know what I was thinking.

Comment by Piece of Work Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 12:55 pm
The heck with the people/companies the state owes money. Lets give the multi-million dollar ConAgra company a big tax break.

Comment by Mama Retired Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 1:18 pm
Piece of work

The EDGE tax incentive deals have ZERO accountability. NONE.

The company just get to reduce that amount off their corporate income tax OR if they don’t owe corporate income tax they don’t have to send in their employee withholding!

Plain and simple it’s money that is being withheld from our coffers.

AND for you libertarian Free Market folks don’t even try to tell me that isn’t the STATE picking winners and losers in the market place giving unfair advantage to large corporations.

215,000,000 in 2015

All to companies already in the state.

All with Zero accountability as to whether they actually bring in the jobs they say they will.

https://www.illinois.gov/dceo/AboutDCEO/Pages/ReportsRequiredByStatute.aspx

Comment by Honeybear Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 2:20 pm
Chicago is still attractive for giant corporate HQs, regardless of the details.

Comment by walker Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 2:27 pm
1000 employees making an average of $50,000 would pay roughly $1.875 million in state income taxes—annually.

The purchasing power of those employees would be very impactful.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 2:56 pm
Also Anonymous- What did we give to them. 10,000,000 in incentives? There was legislation afoot a while back to make these grants transferable and sellable to other companies! Thus the income taxes withheld by these companies might very well wipe out any gain the state might have made and then some. That is 8,125,000 that we won’t get.

Do you get the problem now?

Only DCEO knows where the bodies are buried.

Comment by Honeybear Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 3:48 pm
The problem isn’t corporate “welfare” it is welfare in general. Yes, I know some deserve it and I don’t begrudge the. Many collect it and are supported by those “nasty” corporations.

HB, would you prefer those companies relocate to Florida, TN

Comment by Piece of Work Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 4:55 pm
“New ConAgra CEO Sean Connolly lives in Winnetka”…hmm, are there any State of Illinois office holders who live in Winnetka?

If you can’t help your neighbor, who can you help?

Comment by northshore cynic Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 5:15 pm
Rules bent during BigBrain’s so-called shake-up’administration’ and The SuperStarts?

Comment by sal-says Tuesday, Sep 27, 16 @ 7:00 am
Now I found out some deets on the above ConAgra deal. It was for 200 jobs at 150k each job.
Also ConAgra didn’t pass up a big subsidy from Nebraska. They informed Nebraska five days before the move. The Nebraska Gov said they never even had a chance to give an offer.

Comment by Honeybear Tuesday, Sep 27, 16 @ 9:03 am